Rival may let American use gates at Love

If accepted, the proposal would open up the airport's north concourse to commercial passenger traffic for the first time in nearly a quarter-century. It also would resolve the issue of where new gate space would come from at Love Field now that a federal appeals court has opened up the airport to long-haul flights beyond Texas and seven nearby states.

Under the proposal, Dallas-based Southwest would offer gates 23 and 25 in the north concourse, which is now used by Southwest for training and other purposes. The concourse once housed nine Delta Air Lines Inc. gates.

In addition, Southwest would let regional airlines American Eagle and Delta's Comair share gates 21 and 22, both in the north concourse.

American would not co!
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mment on whether it would accept such a proposal. The Fort Worth-based carrier has already been selling tickets for flights to Los Angeles and Chicago from Love Field starting May 1 in a bid to compete against startup carrier Legend Airlines Inc. But so far, American has not yet received any gate space at Love Field.

American has been pressing the city to allow it to open three gates at the airport's former east concourse, a facility that it now leases and which it has remodeled. The east concourse cannot be used for gate space without the approval of the Dallas City Council.

To complicate matters, a group of D/FW bondholders threatened to sue the city of Dallas if American was allowed to use the east concourse for gates.

"The east concourse can't be used for gate space," said Kenneth Gwyn, aviation director for Love Field. "American has said that there are some issues with Southwest's offer, but I think they can be resolved."

"We have indicated to the city our flexibi!
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lity as they work out our request for space, but there are limits to that flexibility," said American spokesman Chris Chiames. "The space we need needs to have adequate space and other resources available so we can safely operate our flights."

Comair would not comment because it has not yet received the offer, a Delta spokeswoman said. The regional airline has not announced the start of new service from Love Field.

At Love Field, gate space has long been scarce. In late 1997, American and American Eagle asked the city of Dallas, the owner of Love Field, for six gates. It wound up having to share two unused gates with Continental Express Inc.

Also, Dallas-based Legend decided to build its own private, six-gate executive terminal on the corner of Lemmon Avenue and Lovers Lane in part because the carrier couldn't find any gate space at Love Field. Legend has received inquiries from several carriers about leasing some of its gates, Legend chief executive T. Allan McArtor sai!
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d.

Legend, which offers first-class service at full-fare coach prices, plans to fly to Los Angeles, Washington and Las Vegas from Love Field. But after missing a Feb. 29 launch, it has not yet announced a new start date.

Legend aims to cater to North Dallas business travelers, American's best customers. It recently requested gate space at New York's LaGuardia International Airport and at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Current federal laws, known as the Wright and Shelby amendments, prohibit most flights that travel from Love Field to destinations beyond Texas and seven other nearby states. However, the laws allow planes with 56 seats or fewer to fly anywhere from the Dallas airport, which Legend plans to do.

Southwest, a low-fare carrier that dominates Love Field, has said it has no plans to launch such flights.

Earlier this year, the airline said it did not have any space to offer its rivals. It currently operates 139 flights out of 14 gates in the airport!
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's west concourse.

But Southwest has also leased the north concourse for more than a decade.

Under Southwest's proposal, the new gates would be located in the space now occupied by the offices of the Transport Workers Union and Challenge Air. The TWU represents ramp workers and other employees at Southwest. Challenge Air is an organization that flies terminally ill children on special trips. American would be responsible for finding new office space for these organizations, said Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart.