Thursday, October 06, 2005

Competition is good...as long as it's the “right kind” of competition

Seems American Airlines has it's shorts in a bunch over Southwest Airlines' attempt to get the Wright ammendment repealled. In their “American Way” magazine this month there is an article attempting to explain why removing the restrictions at Love Field as to where carriers can fly would force them to “serve their customer's needs” by moving flights to the airport closer to downtown thus reducing the number of connections that can be made at DFW. They want Southwest to have to use DFW and relinquish their competitive advantage. Listen closely; they are admitting customers don't want to have to drive the extra 30 to 40 minutes from downtown, they don't want to have to spend 30 minutes getting to their gate, they don't want to spend an extra 10 minutes taxiing across 1,000 acres of airport to get to the runway and they want to have the lowest fare possible. American admits that their customers are better served at Love Field by Southwest but they want to use government regulation and the monopoly the FAA has over airports to eliminate Southwest's competitive advantage. They want the government to penalize you and Southwest so they can continue to operate a hub at DFW.

If they want to operate a hub at DFW, let 'em. There are plenty of people that need to make connections to other places but let the people of Dallas decide from where they want to fly.

Trying to package corporate welfare as a boon for consumers; the balls.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Walt, just wanted to say hi. Fred needs a thesis for an argument essay. Ape

Anonymous said...

If the wright ammendment is right, then why...

Do I feel raped everytime I fly American from DFW?

Walt said...

Carlos,

Your comment is exactly my point. The Wright ammendment was crafted to give American Airlines a virtual monopoly over DFW. It restricted the number and destination of flights into Love Field. Southwest wants it repealled so they can expand service. American wants it kept in place so they can continue to dominate the service in Dallas. The Wright ammendment is wrong!