The Wright Amendment Compromise that took effect in October of 2006 was supposed to make air travel cheaper for all of us in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Unfortunately, rising fuel prices and continuing trends of increased airfares have significantly reduced (or eliminated) those savings on a range of major routes out of DFW and Love Field.

Scott Friedman of NBC 5 Dallas/Ft. Worth spent some time with me as we dove into the numbers related to the rising costs for air travel in the DFW area and the disappearance of the savings we all hoped would stem from the Wright Compromise.

You can get Scott’s insight (and my graphs) on the subject at The Friedman Files. Also, checkout the TV news spot (3+ minutes) that ran at 10pm last night which includes an interview with me (on the NBC5i.com website). They also have comments from American Airlines’ and Southwest Airlines’ representatives on how their competition and the Wright Compromise affect air travelers flying to/from DFW.

Interesting article in the New York Times today about Southwest and mergers.

Southwest, it seems, is quite enthusiastic about mergers — for other airlines. Southwest’s CEO says, they’re doing fine on their own, thanks, but if others want to merge (especially United and US Airways) why, they’d be happy to start seizing some of the new entity’s market share.

Merging isn’t for Southwest though; the airline is doing better than any of the others, thanks to its leaders’ foresight in hedging fuel costs, so why take on a weak partner? As I said, interesting reading.

The first quarterly reports of 2008 are out, and the airlines are not looking good. But there was one bright spot:

Southwest. The only airline to show a profit.

Take a look at the excellent chart from the New York Times (keep reading below or click here) and you’ll see why. Only Southwest has been far-sighted enough to hedge the price of its fuel as much as it has, in the past — this year — and in the years to come.

As some of you know, Southwest does not file their airfares publicly; but I was curious as whether the largest U.S. carrier (in terms of domestic passengers) had joined in the latest airfare increase and the other seven successful legacy airline increases this year. This is what I learned, directly from a Southwest representative:

“On April 10, we followed an increase by United with a very modest, mileage-based increase of from $2 each way for short haul, $4 each way for medium haul, and $6 each way for long haul.”

“Last night, we instituted a fare increase that takes effect for travel beginning June 13: it ranges from $3 - $5 one-way for short haul; $8 one-way for medium haul, and $10 one-way for long haul.”

Yes, Southwest has fuel hedges in place, but as the rep put it, “no airline is immune to astronomical $115/barrel oil.”

A quick recap of news and tidbits:

FAA/Airline Congressional Hearings: Southwest denies it got too “cozy” with the FAA, claiming it was not a “kissy-kissy” relationship.

FAA/Airline Redux: One of the U.S. presidential contenders released a statement calling the FAA’s approach to policing the airlines “troubling”. I’m not going to name names, but I will go out on a limb here and guess the others are probably on the same page here.

Heathrow Chaos, Supermodel Edition: Coming up next!

Southwest founder Herb Kelleher said his planes that failed to undergo complete inspections last year should not have been in the air. But Kelleher also said safety was not compromised, “in any way shape or form.”

However, one of the U.S. Representatives questioning Kelleher (and others) pointed out that, “At 35,000 feet in the air, there’s no curb to pull over to, to get out and look under the hood” if there is a problem.

This was all part of the congressional hearing formally titled, “Critical Lapses in FAA Safety Oversight of Airlines: Abuses of Regulatory Partnership Programs’.” Click “more” for the rest.

Cheap Flights from Omaha to Orlando - OMA to MCO

According to the latest figures on U.S. airlines from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Southwest Airlines is now officially Number One.

Yes, the scrappy, no-frills airline has finally dethroned American Airlines: in 2007, Southwest carried more passengers than any other airline (101.9 million passengers, compared to American’s 98.1 million).

American had topped the list for the past 5-years.

Unlike American, Southwest clawed its way to the top with no international flights, only domestic runs (America still ranks first among U.S. airlines for international passengers).

Meantime, 2007 was a record breaking year all around, as you’ll see if you keep reading…

UPDATE: Southwest Airlines has grounded 38 of its Boeing jets. According to Southwest spokesperson Christi Day, that translated into 126-canceled flights, but the airline expects to be back to their normal schedule tomorrow (Thursday). Be sure to check on your Southwest flight here, before heading to the airport.

Southwest’s Day said the “decision to take the planes out of service and have them inspected was our decision” and it was done to show “our commitment to safety.”

According to the Dallas Morning News, the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Associations said Southwest is trying to “do the right thing” and added, this is a “minor inconvenience”. Well, unless it’s your flight that gets canceled.

This story began unfolding last night: according to the FAA, that’s when Southwest informed the agency that the jets had been grounded for “possible structural damage.” Click “more” for additional details.

Meet the “Happy Traveler”: he’s Terry Buchen, a world-renowned expert on golf agronomy (in other words, Terry is the guy who keeps the greens green; one of his latest projects is the new Tiger Woods golf course in Dubai).

Needless to say, Terry gets around: he flies about 200,000 miles a year — and a lot of that’s in First Class.

But a good chunk of those miles are flown on Southwest. You heard right. As the New York Times first reported, Terry loves Southwest.

Why Southwest? Attitude, personality, peanuts and pilots and more…

I read this morning’s Wall Street Journal and noted a story in the Personal Journal section on Southwest having issues with some inspections last March and possible fines being levied.

As I read it, the story seemed pretty simple and to the point: some inspections were missed in March of last year, who was at fault for the missed inspections wasn’t clear and Southwest reported it themselves and had the aircraft inspected within 10 days.

I was just flipping through my RSS reader and saw the headline on the CNN home page “Southwest Flies Unsafe Planes” - seems like a pretty big leap from missed inspections to “unsafe”…