Southwest Kansas City Online Petition Ask

TKC NOTE . . . Like all corporate communication, this is an opportunity and also a thinly-veiled threat . . . More Deets @ The website: www.kctodc.com

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: HELP KEEP NONSTOP, LOW-FARE SERVICE BETWEEN KANSAS CITY AND THE NATION’S CAPITAL

Dallas—March 27, 2014—Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) is calling on its Customers in the greater Kansas City area to join an online petition – found at www.kctodc.com – that asks the U.S. Department of Transportation to grant Southwest the permanent authority to continue operating the only daily, low-fare, large-jet nonstop service between Kansas City International Airport (KCI) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

Without Southwest's daily nonstop service between the Nation’s Capital and the “Paris of the Plains," Kansas City area travelers would be left with three regional jet flights (with an average capacity of 63 seats per flight) offered by US Airways.



“Three other airlines are seeking the KCI-DCA slots exemptions in questions but would use them to serve other markets to/from Washington, D.C.,” said Ron Ricks, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal/Regulatory Officer. “Specifically, if awarded the slots exemptions, these other airlines would fly between DCA and either Jacksonville, FL; Long Island, NY; or Myrtle Beach, SC. Kansas City is now in competition with these other cities for service to/from DCA.”

Southwest is operating the service on a temporary authority since February, when the route became available after Frontier Airlines abandoned the KCI-DCA market. Flight access to DCA is restricted and airlines are required to obtain “slots” or “slot exemptions” in order to serve Washington, DC’s only “downtown” airport.

At KCI, Southwest Airlines operates nearly 70 nonstop departures a day to 22 cities including Washington, D.C. and employs more than 230 People.
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