American Airlines has been ordered to divest the two gates it owns at Dallas Love Field as a condition of its merger settlement deal. Delta Air Lines, Southwest, Virgin America and Spirit have all staked their interest. Although not a low-cost carrier, Delta Air Lines has stated that it would add 18 flights to five major cities out of Love Field and fly to New York LaGuardia, Los Angeles, Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul, where it has hubs or significant operations. It would also add two flights to Atlanta, its biggest hub.
“Our new service at Dallas Love Field means more competition and options for North Texas travelers, and flights to our international hubs will provide convenient connections to international destinations in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa,” said Bob Cortelyou, Delta’s senior vice president of network planning.
Delta’s Love Field service now comes on 50-seat jets operated by ExpressJet, which has five flights a day from Dallas to Atlanta as a Delta Connection partner. Delta operates a larger operation at D/FW. Delta has warned that if Southwest gains controls of the gates, it will gain 18 out of the 20 gates available and effectively control 95% of available seats from Love Field.