An attorney for Delta Air Lines has fired off a strongly-worded letter to Dallas, Texas objecting to its ouster from Dallas Love Field.
Kenneth Quinn, an attorney for Pillsbury representing Delta, wrote to the city of Dallas that denying Delta access to the airport “violates the City’s obligations” and other commitments. The letter also raised the possibility of legal action by Delta.
Delta operates five flights a day from Atlanta to Dallas Love Field and planned to continue the service with larger planes. However, the city of Dallas told Delta last week that it must leave the airport by Oct. 13. Delta still flies out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Quinn wrote that Delta was under the impression that the city of Dallas had told United Airlines it must accommodate Delta on its gates. However, United allowed Southwest to use gate space.
“It is simply not true, as the City would have it, that there is no room at the inn for Delta,” Quinn wrote in his letter to Dallas aviation director Mark Duebner. “The truth is, the City decided the available gate space should go to hometown favorite Southwest — which already controls 80% of the gates at Love Field — instead of to Delta, which would have used the gate space to compete with Southwest.”
Southwest plans to launch Atlanta-Dallas Love Field flights Nov. 2.
Atlanta-based Delta also requested that the Federal Aviation Administration investigate the city of Dallas’s actions.
A spokesman for the city of Dallas said Monday there was no comment on the letter.
The FAA said it is aware of the letter and is reviewing the matter, adding that it “hopes the parties reach an amicable resolution.”
Flight operations at Love Field have for years been limited. The Wright Amendment passed in 1979 restricted flights out of Love Field to protect the newer DFW. The restrictions end this month.
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