I would say that Southwest would still survive if the protection of the Wright Amendment (WA) wasn't there. Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of Southwest. The main beneficiary of the WA is not Southwest but DFW airport. I'm a big proponent of major cities having several airports. Dallas has Love Field. Now, if only more people could use it on flights going outside of the adjacent states. The WA was recently amended so that flights could go to 3 additional states - Alabama, Kansas, and Mississippi - in addition to the original states - New Mexico, Okalahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. What's bad about it is that you can't even take a one stop flight from, say, California to Dallas - Love Field. You have to buy 2 tickets to do it. And it's illegal! For a good article on the WA, see http://www.dac.neu.edu/economics/morrison/research/wsj971203.htm. This also contains information on slot controls and perimeter rules. ----- Original Message ----- From: "RT Simpson" <BraniffIntl@aol.com> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 18:24 Subject: [AIRLINE] Stupid Ass Law > In a message dated 7/23/02 3:45:42 PM US Mountain Standard Time, > damiross@attbi.com writes: > > > > Southwest doesn't fly from either DFW or ORD. It flies > > from Dallas Love field which has a stupid ass law saying > > you can't fly beyond certain states on aircraft above > > about 50 seats. > > > > Why isn't that the famed Wright Amendment you're mentioning? In spite of > > it's apparent stupidity in a deregulated industry, it sure hasn't hurt > > Southwest who has beat every competitor (with more and less seats) to date > > at DAL I think LUV would call this a good kind of stupidity! > > > > RT Simpson > > Phoenix