PART THREE: LOVE FIELD RENAISSANCE



The wonderful 1950s-vintage sign that stood at the Cedar Springs entrance to Love Field from 1958 to 1997. Every time I drove past this sign I used to sigh and try to envision the airport's glory days. Sadly, it was removed when Cedar Springs was rebuilt, and replaced with a truly unimaginative "modern" sign. The old sign is now lying, half-rusted, in a scrap yard off of Mockingbird Lane. Photo by Kristopher Crook

There was one bright spot in Love Field's now-dark corridors: tiny Southwest Airlines. The upstart intrastate carrier had won a hard-fought battle to stay at Love Field. The night DFW was opened, Southwest moved its operations from the yellow (north) to two former American gates in the green (west) concourse. Braniff also kept some of its Houston Hobby flights at Love and moved to the west concourse as well.

The City of Dallas, unhappy with the court's decision, made things as difficult for Southwest as possible. They closed off the terminal's main lobby and forced Southwest to set up a temporary ticket counter in the baggage claim wing (the only part of the terminal still open). Passengers accessed the west concourse through the connecting bridge American constructed in 1967-1968.

Meanwhile, the city tried to find as many uses as possible for the rest of the terminal. Portions of the yellow concourse were rented out to various general aviation companies, while Southwest put its tiny corporate office in a section of the old Braniff terminal. By the end of the year, all the abandoned jetbridges had been removed and Love Field was looking less and less like an airport.

In a last-ditch attempt to fill the vacant terminal, the extravagant "Llove Entertainment Center" (I have no idea why the owners put an extra L into "Love") was opened in 1975. The former ticket wing was turned into a bowling alley, while the beautiful main lobby was transformed into an ice rink. Upstairs, the Dobbs House Luau Restaurant was gutted and subdivided into two movie cinemas. Fortunately, the Llove venture proved unprofitable and it was shuttered in 1977.

At that point the city reopened the main lobby and Southwest was able to move its ticket counter to its current location - the site of the old ground-level coffee shop. By then the carrier had grown to serve all the major cities in Texas (Braniff had pulled out of DAL in 1976) and now controlled six gates on the west concourse. The other eight gates were sealed off.

Love Field in the 1980s

A second upstart carrier - Muse Air, founded by a former Southwest executive - began flights in 1980. Muse took up three more gates on the west concourse (at this point, the concourse was reopened beyond its 'elbow') and moved into what had once been Delta's ticket counter adjacent to the main lobby.

As Muse and Southwest fought for market share, passenger numbers at Love skyrocketed. By 1984, the public portions of the terminal were serving almost as many passengers as they had in 1970. To cope with the growing passenger numbers, the city of Dallas authorized more than $30 million in renovations for the airport.


An artist's rendering of the 1987 renovation, showing the new facing installed on the main building, the new parking garage and connecting bridge. The baggage claim wing is at left. Reprinted from Airport Forum magazine

The main terminal was 'modernized' with new silver and blue metallic trim (this was applied over the old paneling, which even today is still there under the trim). To separate arriving and departing traffic, a second roadway was cut across the front of the terminal, turning the old pedestrian underpass into a departures area with curbside check-in. A new four-level parking deck was built over the infield parking lot.

More disastrously, the mezzanine observation area was blocked off and turned into offices. This act 'darkened' the main lobby, as the light from the rampside windows no longer shines down. Finally, the thirty-year-old baggage claim shelves were replaced with four automated carousels. Love Field was one of the last jet-service airports in the country to use a baggage shelf system.

The Nineties

In the early 1990s, Southwest renovated its gate areas on the west concourse in an appealing sleek 1950s style. The renovation removed the last traces of American Airlines from the concourse; at one point, if you looked under the Southwest logos on the gate podiums, you could still see the outlines of American's "Double Eagle" insignia. American logos were also visible in the connector bridge and near the security checkpoint.

In 1998, after a twenty-year battle, Continental Airlines won the right to serve Love Field with its commuter jet aircraft. Flights to Houston (IAH) were started, using Continental's two upper-level gates on the red concourse - which it kept the lease on for almost forty years! The gates were superficially renovated, although vintage Continental 'meatball' logos are still visible there as well.


A view west across Love Field in 1999. The old Braniff hangar (now used by Dalfort Aviation) is in the foreground, as is the Legend Airlines terminal under construction. Most of the unused terminal is also visible. Note that large FBO hangars have been built along much of the north concourse, and that its ramp is now used for parking. Photo from Dalfort Aerospace

To compete with upstart Legend Airlines (which built its own terminal), American Airlines returned to Love Field in 1999, first with flights to Austin and finally with Love's first scheduled long-haul flights since 1974, to Chicago and New York. American built a ticket counter in the main lobby and operated from Continental's gates. They began work on three new gates in the former Braniff terminal, which led to a high-profile fight with the Dallas City Council over Love Field expansion.


Looking across Runway 13L-31R towards the DAL terminal in 2000. The three new American gates (then under construction) are visible to the left, at the former Braniff terminal. Continental's renovated east concourse gates are at right, as is the now-abandoned Texas International satellite terminal. Note the new control tower, which was built in 1991. Photos by Matt McDowell

Eventually, the whole mess was settled with the adoption of the 2000 Love Field Master Plan (see below). American was scheduled to move into its new gates - the first passenger operations from the old Braniff terminal since 1974 - on September 11, 2001. Following the terrorist attacks that day, American's Love Field flights were suspended, and eventually canceled altogether.


The 2000 Love Field Master Plan. At that time, American would have occupied the renovated east concourse. Reactivation of those gates (and renovation of the north concourse) will depend on whether new services are introduced at DAL. Southwest owns the rights to the north concourse gates, should the Wright Amendment ever be repealed. From the Dallas Morning News

The latest addition to the terminal is a five-level parking deck, opened in 2002. Extensive renovation to the main lobby in 2002 and 2003 has dramatically changed the face of the terminal. Go on to the next page to see Love Field today.

As the Wright Amendment debate intensified in 2006, American Airlines returned to Love Field after a five-year hiatus, serving Austin, San Antonio, Kansas City and St. Louis with a mix of MD80 and regional jet aircraft. The flights operate from American's refurbished East Concourse gates, although American uses a check-in counter in the main lobby rather than the space it originally built in 2001. Following a relaxation of Wright Amendment rules, Southwest Airlines also began flights to Kansas City and St. Louis.

On to Part Four: Love Field in July 2003