DALLAS (AFX) - Southwest Airlines Co. and its allies in Congress are resuming efforts to allow long-haul flights from Dallas Love Field, saying Dallas and Fort Worth had plenty of time but failed to negotiate a compromise over the future of air travel in North Texas.
U.S. Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Sam Johnson said Wednesday that their June 1 deadline for a local deal had passed. They said they will lobby House colleagues next week to support Hensarling's bill to eliminate flight restrictions at Love Field.
Southwest lobbyists have already been talking to members of Congress, an airline spokesman said.
Fort Worth Mayor Michael J. Moncrief said he was disappointed by the developments but would keep working on a deal that would protect jobs at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
DFW Airport and its main tenant, American Airlines, say adding long flights at Love Field will hurt service and kill jobs at DFW.
Moncrief said DFW has lost $13 million through the loosening of flight restrictions already approved by Congress.
Hensarling, a Dallas Republican, introduced a Southwest-backed bill last year to repeal the 1979 Wright Amendment, which limits long flights at Love Field to nearby states.
A spokesman for American Airlines, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., said Hensarling and Johnson were trying to create the false impression that sentiment to repeal the Wright Amendment is growing in Congress.
'That bill was introduced over a year ago,' said spokesman Tim Wagner. 'The political reality is that the legislation they support doesn't have a meaningful chance of passing.'
American officials say Congress should consider banning -- not just limiting -- commercial flights at Love Field.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.