An agreement approved by the Dallas City Council on Wednesday will allow Delta Airlines to carry on with its flying operations at Dallas Love Field for an additional six years.
The settlement has resolved a lengthy conflict between Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and Delta.
In an effort to resolve the dispute between the major air carriers, the city, which controls Love Field, filed a lawsuit in 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Texas.
Southwest controls 17 of the 20 gates at Love Field, and since 2014, Southwest has subleased an 18th gate from United Airlines, which it has shared with Delta Airlines.
Delta operates five flights each day between Dallas and Atlanta, according to Southwest lawyers, and was allegedly squatting at the gate.
Southwest Airlines wanted exclusive use of the 18th gate, as the company is seeking to expand its services.
Alaska Airlines controls the remaining two gates at Love Field.
According to the agreement reached Wednesday, Dallas Love Field will pay Seattle-based Alaska Airlines $200,000 a year for the next six years under a lease agreement so that Delta can acquire one of its two gates.
That was the solution presented by the city in 2019 to end the prolonged argument.
At the time, Alaska was operating roughly 13 daily flights out of Love Field, but as of 2022, the airline only conducts two flights daily — to Seattle and San Francisco.
Additionally, Dallas Love Field will lease “terminal storage and support space” to Southwest for $470,761 a year.
Airlines have fought over Dallas Love Field because it is more accessible to many travelers due to being smaller than Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport.
Still, it is more difficult for airlines to grow because the number of gates at Love Field is limited by a law established by Congress in 2006.
Additionally, if Southwest wanted to expand at DFW to have more gates, they would have to forfeit gates at Love Field.
