109TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3661

AN ACT

To amend section 29 of the International Air Transportation

Competition Act of 1979 relating to air transportation

to and from Love Field, Texas.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wright Amendment

5 Reform Act of 2006’’.
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1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS REGARDING

2 FLIGHTS TO AND FROM LOVE FIELD, TEXAS.

3 (a) EXPANDED SERVICE.—Section 29(c) of the Inter4 national Air Transportation Competition Act of 1979

5 (Public Law 96–192; 94 Stat. 35) is amended by striking

6 ‘‘carrier, if (1)’’ and all that follows and inserting the fol7 lowing: ‘‘carrier. Air carriers and, with regard to foreign

8 air transportation, foreign air carriers, may offer for sale

9 and provide through service and ticketing to or from Love

10 Field, Texas, and any United States or foreign destination

11 through any point within Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma,

12 Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, or

13 Alabama.’’.

14 (b) REPEAL.—Section 29 of the International Air

15 Transportation Competition Act of 1979 (94 Stat. 35), as

16 amended by subsection (a), is repealed on the date that

17 is 8 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

18 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF INTERNATIONAL NONSTOP

19 FLIGHTS TO AND FROM LOVE FIELD, TEXAS.

20 No person shall provide, or offer to provide, air trans21 portation of passengers for compensation or hire between

22 Love Field, Texas, and any point or points outside the

23 50 States or the District of Columbia on a nonstop basis,

24 and no official or employee of the Federal Government

25 may take any action to make or designate Love Field as
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1 an initial point of entry into the United States or a last

2 point of departure from the United States.

3 SEC. 4. CHARTER FLIGHTS AT LOVE FIELD, TEXAS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Charter flights (as defined in sec5 tion 212.2 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations) at

6 Love Field, Texas, shall be limited to—

7 (1) destinations within the 50 States and the

8 District of Columbia; and

9 (2) no more than 10 per month per air carrier

10 for charter flights beyond the States of Texas, New

11 Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana,

12 Mississippi, Missouri, and Alabama.

13 (b) CARRIERS WHO LEASE GATES.—All flights oper14 ated to or from Love Field by air carriers that lease ter15 minal gate space at Love Field shall depart from and ar16 rive at one of those leased gates; except for—

17 (1) flights operated by an agency of the Federal

18 Government or by an air carrier under contract with

19 an agency of the Federal Government; and

20 (2) irregular operations.

21 (c) CARRIERS WHO DO NOT LEASE GATES.—Char22 ter flights from Love Field, Texas, operated by air carriers

23 that do not lease terminal space at Love Field may operate

24 from nonterminal facilities or one of the terminal gates

25 at Love Field.
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1 SEC. 5. LOVE FIELD GATES.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The city of Dallas, Texas, shall

3 reduce as soon as practicable, the number of gates avail4 able for passenger air service at Love Field to no more

5 than 20 gates. Thereafter, the number of gates available

6 for such service shall not exceed a maximum of 20 gates.

7 The city of Dallas, pursuant to its authority to operate

8 and regulate the airport as granted under chapter 22 of

9 the Texas Transportation Code and this Act, shall deter10 mine the allocation of leased gates and manage Love Field

11 in accordance with contractual rights and obligations ex12 isting as of the effective date of this Act for certificated

13 air carriers providing scheduled passenger service at Love

14 Field on July 11, 2006. To accommodate new entrant air

15 carriers, the city of Dallas shall honor the scarce resource

16 provision of the existing Love Field leases.

17 (b) REMOVAL OF GATES AT LOVE FIELD.—No Fed18 eral funds or passenger facility charges may be used to

19 remove gates at the Lemmon Avenue facility, Love Field,

20 in reducing the number of gates as required under this

21 Act, but Federal funds or passenger facility charges may

22 be used for other airport facilities under chapter 471 of

23 title 49, United States Code.

24 (c) GENERAL AVIATION.—Nothing in this Act shall

25 affect general aviation service at Love Field, including

26 flights to or from Love Field by general aviation aircraft
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1 for air taxi service, private or sport flying, aerial photog2 raphy, crop dusting, corporate aviation, medical evacu3 ation, flight training, police or fire fighting, and similar

4 general aviation purposes, or by aircraft operated by any

5 agency of the Federal Government or by any air carrier

6 under contract to any agency of the Federal Government.

7 (d) ENFORCEMENT.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

9 provision of law, the Secretary of Transportation

10 and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad11 ministration may not make findings or determina12 tions, issue orders or rules, withhold airport im13 provement grants or approvals thereof, deny pas14 senger facility charge applications, or take any other

15 actions, either self-initiated or on behalf of third

16 parties—

17 (A) that are inconsistent with the contract

18 dated July 11, 2006, entered into by the city of

19 Dallas, the city of Fort Worth, the DFW Inter20 national Airport Board, and others regarding

21 the resolution of the Wright Amendment issues,

22 unless actions by the parties to the contract are

23 not reasonably necessary to implement such

24 contract; or
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1 (B) that challenge the legality of any pro2 vision of such contract.

3 (2) COMPLIANCE WITH TITLE 49 REQUIRE4 MENTS.—A contract described in paragraph (1)(A)

5 of this subsection, and any actions taken by the par6 ties to such contract that are reasonably necessary

7 to implement its provisions, shall be deemed to com8 ply in all respects with the parties’ obligations under

9 title 49, United States Code.

10 (e) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be

12 construed—

13 (A) to limit the obligations of the parties

14 under the programs of the Department of

15 Transportation and the Federal Aviation Ad16 ministration relating to aviation safety, labor,

17 environmental, national historic preservation,

18 civil rights, small business concerns (including

19 disadvantaged business enterprise), veteran’s

20 preference, disability access, and revenue diver21 sion;

22 (B) to limit the authority of the Depart23 ment of Transportation or the Federal Aviation

24 Administration to enforce the obligations of the
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1 parties under the programs described in sub2 paragraph (A);

3 (C) to limit the obligations of the parties

4 under the security programs of the Department

5 of Homeland Security, including the Transpor6 tation Security Administration, at Love Field,

7 Texas;

8 (D) to authorize the parties to offer mar9 keting incentives that are in violation of Fed10 eral law, rules, orders, agreements, and other

11 requirements; or

12 (E) to limit the authority of the Federal

13 Aviation Administration or any other Federal

14 agency to enforce requirements of law and

15 grant assurances (including subsections (a)(1),

16 (a)(4), and (s) of section 47107 of title 49,

17 United States Code) that impose obligations on

18 Love Field to make its facilities available on a

19 reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis to air

20 carriers seeking to use such facilities, or to

21 withhold grants or deny applications to appli22 cants violating such obligations with respect to

23 Love Field.

24 (2) FACILITIES.—Paragraph (1)(E)—
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1 (A) shall only apply with respect to facili2 ties that remain at Love Field after the city of

3 Dallas has reduced the number of gates at Love

4 Field as required by subsection (a); and

5 (B) shall not be construed to require the

6 city of Dallas, Texas—

7 (i) to construct additional gates be8 yond the 20 gates referred to in subsection

9 (a); or

10 (ii) to modify or eliminate preferential

11 gate leases with air carriers in order to al12 locate gate capacity to new entrants or to

13 create common use gates, unless such

14 modification or elimination is implemented

15 on a nationwide basis.

16 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

17 The provisions of this Act shall apply to actions taken

18 with respect to Love Field, Texas, or air transportation

19 to or from Love Field, Texas, and shall have no applica20 tion to any other airport (other than an airport owned or

21 operated by the city of Dallas or the city of Fort Worth,

22 or both).

23 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

24 Sections 1 through 6, including the amendments

25 made by such sections, shall take effect on the date that
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1 the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration

2 notifies Congress that aviation operations in the airspace

3 serving Love Field and the Dallas-Fort Worth area which

4 are likely to be conducted after enactment of this Act can

5 be accommodated in full compliance with Federal Aviation

6 Administration safety standards in accordance with sec7 tion 40101 of title 49, United States Code, and, based

8 on current expectations, without adverse effect on use of

9 airspace in such area.

Passed the Senate September 29, 2006.

Attest:

Secretary.
109TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3661

AN ACT

To amend section 29 of the International Air

Texas.to air transportation to and from Love Field,Transportation Competition Act of 1979 relating