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Thursday, September 25, 1997

Senator says he has enough votes for Legend flights from Love Field

DALLAS (AP) -- Key congressional lawmakers say they have enough votes to ease flight restrictions at Dallas Love Field and enable a start-up airline to begin service there.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chief Senate ally of fledgling Legend Airlines Inc., said he will seek to lift the Wright amendment's restrictions on flights from Love Field during a House-Senate conference committee meeting Thursday.

Shelby, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, inserted a provision in a $42 billion transportation spending bill that would clarify that airplanes modified to have 56 seats or fewer can fly from Love Field to any destination. Legend wants to take conventional jetliners, such as a Boeing 737 or McDonnell Douglas DC-9, and remove enough seats to meet the 56-seat limit in the Wright amendment.

The Shelby provision would override a Transportation Department ruling banning long-haul flights on modified aircraft. Legend is also fighting the ruling before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Shelby's earlier agreement to give the Dallas City Council veto authority over any changes in flight limits at Love Field is no longer expected to be in the final agreement, according to sources and House members close to the issue, The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday.

Dropping veto authority for the city of Dallas would be a blow to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who added that provision to blunt Shelby's move. She has said she believes she had an agreement with Shelby that her provision would be in the final version of the bill.

"We had a deal," Ms. Hutchison said. "In every other instance, if you make an agreement with a senator, your word is good ... It's very disappointing."

When asked whether he intends to keep Ms. Hutchison's provision in the transportation bill, Shelby said, "No."

In the interview, Shelby repeated that he wants to eventually repeal the Wright amendment to boost the chances for more and cheaper commercial airline service to his home state.

He said he would try to add a provision during the conference committee to kill the Wright amendment's restriction on flights from Love Field to Texas and its four neighbors -- Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

"We want at least some expansion of the perimeter and an overruling of the administration's ruling by the DOT," Shelby said.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has been protected from competition by Love Field through the 18-year-old Wright amendment.

Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr said his city will not stand for any intervention by Congress on the issue. He left open the possibility that the city would sue to stop Legend from offering long-haul service from Love Field or if Congress repeals the Wright amendment.

Opponents of the law say limits at Love Field are unfair to competition and lead to higher airfares throughout the country.