This is hardly the Wright stuff

Tuesday, July 5, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

Congress deregulated the airline industry in 1978, a critical decision that threw off the constraints that had existed on the industry before, enabling airlines to essentially fly whenever and wherever they wanted. As we have seen over time, deregulation has resulted in more competition, something that helps consumers by providing more choices. There is one notable exception to deregulation, however, and it involves an act of Congress that occurred one year after deregulation was passed.

In 1979, in order to help boost the nascent Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Congress restricted travel to and from a competing airport, Dallas' Love Field, which is where Southwest Airlines is headquartered. The legislation, engineered by then-Democratic House Majority Leader Jim Wright of Texas, prohibited direct flights to and from Love Field unless the flight originated from inside Texas or one of its four bordering states. Subsequently, Congress has allowed direct flights to Love Field from airports in three other states -- Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi. But if you live anywhere else in the country, including Las Vegas, you can't fly into and out of Love Field nonstop in planes with more than 56 seats.

Such protectionist legislation was bad enough in 1979, but it is utter madness in 2005. It's not as if the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, which is where American Airlines has a hub, is struggling. Dallas-Fort Worth is now the world's sixth- busiest airport. It could stand a little competition from Love Field. Further, competition from Southwest and Love Field certainly would result in lower fares for flights connecting to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

So, in light of how much sense it would make to drive a stake through the Wright Amendment and foster free enterprise, you would think that members of the Republican-controlled Congress would be falling all over themselves to do the honors. But Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, has long fought any attempts to weaken the Wright Amendment -- and she continues to do so. This is a case where a parochial interest -- protecting two big employers, one an airport and the second a company, American Airlines -- has been allowed to trump what is best for free enterprise and for consumers. Essentially what we have here is a form of corporate welfare, manifested in anti-competitive legislation, that has come to benefit a specific airline.

We are glad that Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has taken an interest in this situation and is considering legislation that would repeal the Wright Amendment. Doing so would be the right thing, especially for consumers.