Airlines, Dallas celebrate end of flight restrictions

DALLAS - Even travelers who didn't know about the expiration of the Wright Amendment quickly realized it was not a business-as-usual morning at Dallas Love Field on Monday.

A rock band played loudly above the security checkpoint and free doughnuts and coffee tempted passengers in the terminal as top officials from Southwest Airlines, Virgin America and the city of Dallas celebrated the first long-haul flights from Love Field since 1980.

Southwest's chairman and chief executive Gary Kelly, who led the move to end the flight restrictions a decade ago, scanned boarding passes and passed out hugs to passengers boarding the inaugural nonstop flight to Denver at 6:40 a.m.

"It's good for our local economy, it's good for jobs, it's good for competition," Kelly said. "It's good for travelers who live in North Texas. It's good for travelers who want to come to North Texas. It is just good all the way around."

Bill de Haas, a Dallas businessman, said he started flying Southwest in their first few months, when flight attendants still wore "hot pants" and you could buy a round-trip ticket to Houston for $19.

"Now we can fly it all over the United States, and this really makes it much easier," he said. "I want to get on the plane and go."

Kate McNamara, a flight attendant who is based in Baltimore, was so excited about the expiration of the Wright Amendment that she flew to Dallas and bought a hotel room on her own dime to work one of the inaugural flights.

Initially, Southwest won the right for through-ticketing, which allowed customers to buy one-stop flights to cities outside the Wright Amendment boundaries on one ticket. But direct flights anywhere in the United States were not allowed until Monday. As part of the deal, Love Field is capped at 20 gates.

Southwest launched direct flights Monday to Denver, Chicago Midway, Washington, D.C., Baltimore-Washington, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla. It will add more destinations in November.