Call it the airline gate shuffle.
Delta Air Lines is being forced out of Dallas Love Field because Southwest Airlines and United Airlines plan to use the gates it wanted.
Southwest plans to use one of United’s two gates at Love Field and United has told the city of Dallas that it will increase service to 12 daily flights in January, according to a city memo. First Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans sent the memo to Mayor Mike Rawlings and the Dallas City Council on Tuesday — one day after the city gave Delta two weeks’ notice to depart the city-owned airport.
Airlines are jockeying for position to expand their flying at Love Field after the Wright amendment expires on Oct. 13, allowing airlines to operate long-haul flights out of the airport. After that date, Love Field will see its number of flights increase by at least two-thirds by year’s end.
United’s additional flights will be to Houston, said Mark Duebner, Dallas’ director of aviation. The airline now flies 14 nonstop flights from Love Field to Houston Intercontinental Airport.
United spokesman Luke Punzenberger confirmed that it will increase service at Love Field on Jan. 7 but declined to provide any details about the flights or its future flying plans at the airport. He also confirmed that the airline has entered into a gate use agreement with Southwest but would not share any details.
That agreement lets Southwest use the United gate if it needs to on a given day and if the gate is available, Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said. He called it a “standard business arrangement similar to those in place at other airports across the country.”
Dallas-based Southwest now controls 16 of Love Field’s 20 gates. Chicago-based United has two gates and Fort Worth-based American Airlines has two. American has subleased its gates to Atlanta-based Delta since 2008, but that ends Oct. 13, when Virgin America takes over those gates under a Justice Department settlement as part of American’s merger with US Airways.
Delta — with the city’s help — hoped it could still find a way to fly out of Love Field. The carrier has flown five nonstop, round-trip flights a day from Love Field to Atlanta since 2008 and wanted to add 18 nonstop flights to five cities — Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York.
Delta asked the city to use United’s two gates at Love Field, according to a letter from the city to Delta dated Monday. And Rawlings told city staff in May that he wanted them to find room for Delta. That hasn’t happened.
“Delta Air Lines has been unsuccessful in securing a sublease from any of the airlines currently leasing gates at Love Field,” according to Evans’ memo.
The Wright amendment, which became federal law in 1980, originally allowed short flights from Love Field only to other Texas cities and adjacent states. A 2006 revision required flights to make one stop in the Wright amendment area before continuing on to other U.S. cities. The amendment expires Oct. 13, letting carriers at Love Field operate flights anywhere within the United States or U.S. territory.
American, Southwest and United all have long-term preferential leases with the city for their gates at Love Field, which gives them certain rights, Duebner said.
“The city doesn’t have the ability to order an airline off a lease for an airline that would fly to more cities or offer more flights,” he said. “Our ability was to look at the schedule and determine if gates were being used. We looked at the schedules provided to us, and there was no gate for Delta to use.”
The city’s decision to boot Delta from Love Field will affect about 16,000 passengers — people who bought tickets for travel on or after Oct. 13, the airline said.
“Delta knew in the spring [when Virgin America received approval for two gates at Love Field] that its American sublease would expire,” Duebner said Tuesday. “They continued to sell tickets without having a place to operate out of.”
Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said the airline continued to sell tickets from Love Field because “the city assured us they would work with us to accommodate our schedule” until the end of the year.
“We are evaluating our best options for accommodating passengers who bought those fares,” Banstetter said. Delta probably will redirect passengers to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, he said.
Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston is not happy with Delta’s forced departure from Love Field.
“United has done a historically poor job of utilizing its gates,” Kingston said. “United has provided the city with assurances the city has accepted that it will fully utilize the gates. We need to make sure we’re holding United to its assurances.”
The city plans to monitor gate usage at Love Field every month, Duebner said.
“If this was a thinly veiled tactic just to keep Delta from using the gates, that will become apparent,” he said. “At some point, we knew demand would outstrip supply with only 20 gates. Its a hard situation for us to be in. We like competition.”
Staff writer Terry Maxon contributed to this report.
rwilonsky@dallasnews.com;
sjean@dallasnews.com
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on Twitter at @RobertWilonsky and Sheryl Jean on Twitter at @SJeanDallas.
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