Southwest Airlines made a big splash Monday when it announced intentions to fly out of George Bush Intercontinental in Houston and O'Hare International in Chicago.
In both Houston and Chicago, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has historically stayed out of the bigger airports, George Bush and O'Hare, and instead dominated the traffic at smaller, secondary airports in the regions like Houston Hobby and Chicago Midway.
Notably, Southwest uses the same strategy in North Texas, as it doesn't service Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and instead operates 18 of Dallas Love Field's 20 gates. Is the announcement of incoming George Bush and O'Hare service a harbinger of Southwest expanding to DFW Airport?
The answer is — at least in the near term — no. It's mainly because of a law passed over 40 years ago.
"One of the current restrictions still on the books from the Wright Amendment is that we are not able to serve DFW until at least 2025 unless we give up gate space at (Love Field)," said Southwest spokesperson Dan Landson. "At this point, we are very happy with our service from Love Field and have no current plans to consider DFW."
To learn more about why Southwest can’t expand to DFW, see this story.
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