Feb 3 (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines said on Monday
it will offer nonstop flights from its base at Dallas Love
Field, Texas, to 15 cities including Chicago, New York and Los
Angeles later this year, after the expiry of flight restrictions
from that airport.
The carrier plans to fly nonstop to Baltimore, Denver, Las
Vegas, Orlando, Florida, and Chicago Midway from Oct. 13.
Service to Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York
LaGuardia, Phoenix and other U.S. cities will begin Nov. 2.
The Wright Amendment, a federal law introduced in the late
1970s, restricts nonstop flights that Southwest can operate out
of Dallas Love Field to nine states. Southwest said the October
expiration of the law will allow direct flights from Love Field
to 41 more states and the District of Columbia.
The repeal “signifies a turning point for the Southwest
brand not just in Dallas, but from coast-to-coast,” Southwest
Chief Executive Gary Kelly said in a statement.
In recent months, Southwest won takeoff and landing rights
at Reagan National Airport near Washington and at New York’s
LaGuardia that American Airlines Group is selling under
a merger agreement with the U.S. government. Those rights will
allow it to expand flights to other U.S. cities.
