Officials of the top airline serving McCarran International Airport could alter service into Las Vegas to take advantage of a new federal law.
President Bush signed a bill Friday that will eventually eliminate restrictions on long-haul flights from Dallas Love Field in Texas. The Wright Amendment Reform Act will allow Southwest Airlines, McCarran's No. 1 carrier, to launch for the first time one-stop connections from Love Field to Las Vegas.
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Southwest will also be able to offer direct service -- flights that stop in a connecting city but enable passengers to stay aboard the same plane for the duration of their
travel -- from Love Field to McCarran.
Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said Friday that the Love Field-based airline won't make any route changes until the Federal Aviation Administration delivers a letter to Congress saying the new law's provisions won't negatively affect airspace at Love Field. Once the administration sends its letter, Southwest could implement its new schedule within days, she said.
"We do want to include our larger cities in our Dallas service," King said. "If we have any scheduled service that lines up with Dallas through a connecting city to Las Vegas, there's a chance we would make that into for-sale service."
In number of customers boarded, Las Vegas is Southwest's biggest market. The airline has 224 daily departures from McCarran. Chicago's Midway International Airport, with 209 daily Southwest departures, is the carrier's No. 2 airfield.
King said any new service to Las Vegas wouldn't involve an increase in the number of flights Southwest has into McCarran, but the carrier is mulling tweaking its existing schedule to serve the airport from Love Field.
A spokeswoman from the Federal Aviation Administration declined to say when the agency would submit its letter of notification to Congress. She did say, however, that the administration will certify to Congress that the airspace around Love Field is safe. The agency will send the letter as soon as administrative issues involving numbering the bill for filing are resolved. She wouldn't estimate a time frame on the record.
King said Southwest officials expect to see the letter shortly. She added that the airline's executives hope to roll out new routes sometime next week.
King said the carrier won't disclose its new schedule until it's released for sale.
The new law will lift limits on nonstop service from Love Field to McCarran in 2014.
Southwest served 13.9 million arriving and departing passengers at McCarran in 2005, well ahead of No. 2 America West, which served 7.6 million arriving and departing fliers.
Though no carriers fly directly from Love Field to McCarran, three airlines -- American Airlines, America West-US Airways and Air Tran Airways -- offered a daily average of 17 nonstop flights from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to McCarran in July, according to McCarran's latest statistics.
King said allowing Southwest to offer routes from Dallas to Las Vegas could benefit consumers because lower fares often follow the carrier's entry into specific markets.
She said the U.S. Department of Transportation coined the term "Southwest effect" to describe the phenomenon.
"When we enter into a new market, other airlines lower their fares to compete, overall traffic increases and fares drop," King said.
Bush's signing of the Wright Amendment Reform Act caps two years of intense lobbying and negotiations involving Southwest and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field.
"It has been a long process, but North Texas consumers will benefit from more competition and significantly reduced airfares," said bill sponsor Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in a statement.
The 1979 law known as the Wright Amendment forced flights leaving Love Field to land in Texas or the four contiguous states. Restrictions were later lifted on four more states.
The new law will repeal the Wright legislation in eight years and reduce the number of gates at Love Field from 32 to 20.
