Ayear ago in this space, we proffered the idea of Minnesota's congressional delegation sponsoring a repeal of the Wright Amendment that restricted air travel out of Love Field, the secondary airport in Dallas, Texas. The act of Congress was long a thorn in the side of Dallasbased Southwest Airlines.
In exchange for the repeal, it was suggested that Southwest consider service to Minnesota and Duluth in particular. The idea took shape as our "Southwest to Duluth" campaign. Approached with it, Southwest called it an "interesting proposal" and didn't say no.
Well, mountains moved, and after three decades, the Wright Amendment did get overturned in the fall, in part thanks to a bill cosponsored by the Northland's Rep. Jim Oberstar. More than the quid-pro-quo, lifting the anti-competitive restriction was the right thing to do.
So what about Southwest?
"[Southwest Board Chairman] Herb Kelleher called and said thank you," Oberstar said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Well, he still didn't say no...
Like we said, competition is good.
