Star-Telegram staff writer Bryon Okada reports today on themed lanes at TSA checkpoints at Dallas Love Field which may get the lines there moving a little faster. They now have lines designed for families or those unfamiliar with airport security, casual travelers who are aware of the rules but need a little more time or help, and expert travelers who know the drill and don't expect any holdups.
According to Bryon, D/FW Airport may see similar themed lanes as well in the future.
What a difference a runway makes.
While Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has seen at least 27 cancelled flights and about 45 minute delays due to wind, that smaller airport eight miles to the east is reporting no problems.
Southwest Airlines, which dominates Dallas Love Field with about 90 percent of the flights there, has seen no delays or cancelled flights due to wind, said Chris Mainz, an airline spokesman.
"Fortunately it hasn't really impacted us at all," Mainz said. "In this particular instance, it's because of the way the wind is blowing."
That's right, the airport's two longest (and most used) runways run diagonally rather than straight north and south. It's the runways going north and south at D/FW Airport that were being seldom used because the wind has been charging in at 35 to 40 miles an hour from the west. A strong perpindicular wind just doesn't work for an airplane trying to land or take off.
-David
Southwest Airlines put a 15th gate at Dallas Love Field into operation Monday and maxed out its gate capacity -- at least for the next few years.
The Dallas-based discount carrier will use space that is across from gate 1. So as you walk into the terminal, the new gate will be on your right hand side.
The area now known as Gate 1A used to be a small customer-service break room, and the jet bridge for that gate will sit where an outside dumpster used to be, said Brandy King, a spokeswoman for the airline.
Southwest is allowed to use 15 gates at the most, until 2010, when it has the rights to 16, according to the newly revised Wright Amendment, which Congress changed in October 2006.
Gate 1A will serve as a reliever as other gates are occasionally taken out of service for general airport maintenance, King said.
-David
A new name in the airport shuttle business has popped up today. It's name is GO.
Forty different transportation companies around the world have teamed up to launch what they call the "world's largest door-to-door airport shuttle company."
You can go online to make a reservation for getting to or from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and Dallas Love Field. The company, with its fleet of 3,765 vehicles, said it expects to carry almost 29 million passengers this year at 110 airports around the world, including Charles De Gaulle Airport in France and Kahului Airport in Hawaii.
"Corporate travel managers, convention managers and travel companies tell us they want to do business with one supplier and one billing system," said John McCarthy, the newly elected president of GO, a press release. "We believe that individual travelers also will appreciate the opportunity to have a single reliable source for airport transportation, regardless of destination."
The company is owned by a group of 10 transportation companies. Other companies can either buy into the GO company and keep an ownership stake, or they can pay a licensing fee to use the GO name, said Judi Schindler, a spokeswoman for the company.
-David
Alvy Dodson, the director of public safety at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, is leaving to take a job at that other airport eight miles to the east. Starting in September, he'll be the field service director for the Transportation Security Administration at Dallas Love Field.
But, before he goes, he stopped to chat with USA Today about crime in airports. One interesting thing to keep in mind: just because the ticketed passenger is allowed to pass through the security checkpoint doesn't mean that's still an honest person.
Read more of his comments here.
-David
American Airlines will end its nonstop service from Dallas Love Field to St. Louis and San Antonio, a spokesman said Monday, while doubling its daily frequencies to Austin and Kansas City.
The total number of American flights from the Dallas airport will remain at 16, said spokesman Tim Wagner. He said the changes, which will be effective Sept. 5, were made because Kansas City and Austin are the most popular destinations for business travelers who prefer to fly from Love.
“The number of frequencies have a lot to do with how business travelers choose and airline,” he said. The number of daily flights to those two cities will double from four to eight, and will be flown on American Eagle regional jets.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis and San Antonio flights haven’t been showing as much demand, Wagner said. Ending that service allows American to beef up its flights to the other cities.
“We’ve in the unique position of having two airports in the Metroplex, so we’ve been tweaking our schedule for a while,” he said.
American will continue to fly nonstop to St. Louis 11 times daily from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, and 14 times each day to San Antonio from that airport.
American’s flights from Love began last year, after Congress exempted Missouri from the Wright Amendment, the federal law that limits nonstop flights from the airport to a handful of nearby states. Later, the law was further loosened to allow fares to be sold to distant cities as long as passengers connect at a nearby airport.
- Trebor
Fitch Ratings out of Chicago has upgraded its credit rating on $3.6 billion in D/FW's airport bonds, thanks largely to the airport's lease and royalty deal with Chesapeake Energy to drill for natural gas on airport property.
Fitch also noted that the Wright Amendment compromise has been "credit neutral" for the airport, because despite intensified competition from Dallas Love Field, the local travel market has been stimulated by 7 percent. The report said that business and leisure fares on American Airlines at D/FW are down 64 percent and 50 percent, respectively.
- Trebor
