Airline's inaugural flight also is a first for Dallas' Love Field

Wednesday, April 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DALLAS (AP) -- Legend Airlines' inaugural flight took off Wednesday from Love Field, capping a three-year legal battle to return long-haul flights to the Dallas airport for the first time in a quarter-century.

The DC-9, bound for Washington's Dulles airport, took off without a hitch at 9 a.m. The reconfigured plane, which has a capacity of 56 passengers versus 110 in a normal coach configuration, had 50 passengers on board.

"It has been a long time coming. It's something travelers have been screaming for," said Kim Plaskett, Legend's manager for marketing.

Legend bills itself as a luxury airline with coach ticket prices, offering leather seats with extra legroom, satellite television, fancy menus and other amenities. Round-trip tickets for Washington are comparable with other coach fares -- $224 for tickets bought three weeks in advance, $785 for last-minute purchases.

It was the first time since 1974 -- when the larger Dallas-Fort Worth airport opened -- that an airline had flown from Love Field to a city beyond Texas and seven nearby states. Love is just 6 miles from downtown Dallas, while DFW is 20 miles away.

In an effort to keep DFW strong, Congress had passed restrictions on long-haul flights from Love. Legend's quest to use Love for such flights set off a three-year battle between the start-up airline, the cities of Fort Worth and Dallas, and Fort Worth-based American Airlines, the dominant carrier at DFW.

Legend argued the law allowed such service by jets with 56 or fewer seats.

On Feb. 1, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. Department of Transportation decision to allow long-haul flights from Love for jets with no more than 56 seats.

Legend's inaugural flight, originally scheduled to take off Feb.29, was delayed after the Federal Aviation Administration said custom-made galleys for the cabins failed crash tests. The FAA later cleared the way for flights.

After Wednesday's inaugural service to Washington, Legend plans flights Thursday to Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

"We're going to take it one day at a time," said Lisa Bauer, Legend's vice president for marketing. "We aren't launching a new flight, we are launching an airline."