Texas airport fight spills into Senate

0 Comments | USA TODAY, November, 2005 | by Dan Reed

FORT WORTH -- A long-running Texas feud over air service that pits industry giants American and Southwest will spill onto the national scene today at a U.S. Senate hearing.

The eventual outcome could affect the financial fortunes of the Texas-based carriers as well as travel patterns and fares for 21 million passengers who fly into or out of North Texas each year.

At issue in the hearing is pending legislation called the "Right to Fly Act," which would lift decades-old limits on air service to and from Love Field, the old Dallas airport. Under federal law, Southwest currently can fly from Love, its home airport, only to cities in Texas and seven nearby states.

Southwest last year abandoned its long-standing neutrality and began pushing for repeal of the...