Fight for space at Love Field is not a surprise

In Dallas, the city’s director of aviation told a federal judge this week that no one, absolutely no one, knew that air traffic growth at Love Field would “blow up as quickly as it did.”

Well, bless his heart, it must be terrible to be so rudely surprised.

The testimony from Mark Duebner came in U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade’s court as Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines fought over whether Delta can continue to use two of Southwest’s gates at Love.

Kinkeade shouldn’t give much weight to what Duebner said. Dallas has known quite well since 2006 that Love Field traffic would grow very quickly right about now.

A long, difficult fight over flight restrictions at Love Field ended in 2006 when officials from Dallas, Fort Worth, their jointly owned Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, American Airlines and Southwest reached a compromise agreement.

That agreement lifted the restrictions at Love Field as of October, 2014. It was easy to see then that the city-owned airport’s traffic would “blow up.”

That’s why Dallas spent $500 million on a new 20-gate terminal and other improvements in a modernization program at Love. The city, the airport and Southwest said the “colossal facelift” was aimed at accommodating new customers “who are expected to flow through the airport … in 2014.”

All along, Southwest has been expected to lead that growth.

This week’s fuss in Kinkeade’s court came because Southwest, which long has controlled 16 Love Field gates, paid United Airlines $120 million to sublease two more. Delta has been using those two gates, but Southwest wants to to boot Delta out and devote them exclusively to its own use.

Delta says that’s unfair and illegal.

Delta has a point. The federal government spends millions of dollars at individual airports like Love Field, helping to build runways and other facilities and maintain the air traffic control system that allows them to operate.

The federal investment means airlines should be able to enter those airports and compete.

Under the 2006 compromise, Dallas agreed to limit Love Field to 20 gates. Congress, President George W. Bush and the Federal Aviation Administration all signed off on that agreement.

What’s happening now is the hard part: making the agreement work.

Southwest is the big dog at Love Field, and it can be expected to continue acting like it. Dallas is not an innocent bystander.

There’s a lot riding on what Kinkeade has to say. He’s expected to rule soon.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Fight for space at Love Field is not a surprise."