Southwest adds flights from Dallas to Missouri

An amendment lead by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., adds Missouri to the list of available service destinations from Dallas’ Love Field airport and is included in the transportation appropriations bill for fiscal-year 2006.

In 1979, Love Field was prohibited from offering nonstop service to cities outside of Texas and its four surrounding states in an attempt to protect Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport. Since then, service has been added to Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas and, now, Missouri.

Southwest Airlines predicts an additional 500,000 Missouri passengers per year will be served, and an additional $218 million per year will go to the state’s economy in related spending.

“Our experience in 60 other markets tells us that all carriers serving these markets will decrease their fares and increase their Missouri traffic,” said Herb Kelleher, Southwest executive chairman, in a news release. “The push from Missouri allows us to create a competition laboratory to prove our case.”

Four daily nonstop flights to St. Louis and Kansas City will be offered at a one-way fare from Dallas for $79, with a 14-day advance purchase. The walk-up fare will be $129 each way.

Southwest Airlines is based at Love Field and serves 61 cities in 31 states.