Love Field

Love Field (airport identifier DAL) is a major commercial airport and industrial center in Dallas, Texas, and is located approximately six miles northwest of the central downtown business district. The airport covers an area of 1,300 acres and has three runways: The city of Dallas owns the airport, and Southwest Airlines, with their home office complex, occupies most of Love Field. Though Love Field’s more modern image was crafted by the marketing campaign by Southwest Airlines in the early 1970s, when their mustard-colored 737s with hostesses dressed in hot pants and go-go boots flew out of airport, the history of Love Field records its noteworthy role in the expansion of the transportation industry, the use of air travel in business (especially that of the early Texas oil industry), and the importance of aviation to U.S. national security.

The airport began as a World War I army airfield in 1914 and revved up in 1917 when Congress declared war. The United States Army Signal Corps along with the city named the airport for pioneer aviator Lt. Moss Lee Love. Born on September 16, 1879, Love hailed from a prominent Fairfax County, Virginia, family where his father was an attorney and circuit judge. Moss Lee Love earned his living as a schoolteacher at the Oakton School in Virginia. By 1901 records indicate that he became a member of the Seventh Cavalry, U. S. Army, with a promotion to second lieutenant by 1906 when stationed in the Philippines. Love may have ridden a horse in the cavalry, but he learned to fly from another army aviator Lt. Frank P. Lahm.Love by 1912 trained for his military pilot’s license and was with the U. S. Army’s Eleventh Cavalry. On September 4, 1913, his Wright Model C Pusher biplane lost altitude and he crashed, falling 300 feet from the sky in a training flight at San Diego, California.

In 1917 the city of Dallas had an agreement with the War Department to set up a flying school at Love Field and purchased 600 acres to accomplish the goal. Swift mobilization at the time of America’s declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 1917, spurred the construction at Love Field. The Aviation Section was a branch of the U. S. Army Signal Corps at the time. The U. S. had few trained pilots and mostly obsolete aircraft. By Christmas 1917 about fifteen aircraft training schools existed, including Love Field. In November 1918 the “Flyin’ Frolic” took place at Love Field. The two-day event was originally scheduled for November 8–9 as a celebration in anticipation of the coming armistice and as an exhibition to demonstrate the flying skills of the trained aviators at Love Field who did not get the opportunity to go to combat. Due to weather, the event was rescheduled for November 12–13, 1918. For two days, the airport had an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 revelers enjoying bands, dancing, and what was heralded as the “first officially recognized air circus” in the United States. The Flyin’ Frolic included aerial acrobatics, a staged bombing raid and aerial combat, a world record parachute leap, and even night flying. Sixty airplanes took to the sky at one time. Money raised at the affair far exceeded the planned $10,000 needed to construct a swimming pool at Love Field, and the suggested use for the proceeds included the goal of making the airport a “permanent post.”  

The days of the barnstormers in the 1920s and initiation of the U. S. Air Mail Service routes followed. These government contracts made possible the formation of many major airlines of the future. In 1922 the Curtiss Flying School and Curtiss Aeroplane Company opened at Love Field. In August 1927 the city of Dallas purchased 167 acres of the field for $325,000 for use as a private airport. National Air Transport in 1927 began passenger service, and in 1928 passenger service to San Antonio and Houston commenced, with three or four passengers on a flight. In 1932 at Love Field, Edwin Booth formed the Piston Engine Overhaul Company that later rebranded itself as Dallas Airmotive. The company supported numerous airlines and eventually moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for expansion. Also in 1932 the city completed the first paved runways.  

Love became an army field again in 1942 and served during World War II as headquarters for the United States Air Transport Command. The facilities were greatly expanded by the U. S. Army Air Forces. The Dallas Texas Aviation School trained military aviators with basic flying skills in Fairchild PT-19s. Also located at Love were several PT-17 Stearmans with a few P-40 Warhawks. Love also had Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) graduates from Sweetwater, Texas, assigned to ferrying aircraft serving the 601st Ferrying Squad. Aircraft overhauls occurred at Love as a sub-depot of the San Antonio Air Service Command. The field operated for military usage until August 1945 as World War II came to a victorious end.  

On November 29, 1949, a Douglas DC-6, American Airlines Flight 157, with forty-six passengers and crew on board, en route from New York to Mexico City slid off Runway 36 at Love Field. The aircraft struck several buildings and a parked aircraft; the crash killed twenty-eight making it the worst air disaster in Texas at the time, and as of 2023 it remained the deadliest to occur at the airfield itself.  

 A third terminal opened with a dedication on October 20, 1957, and began service on January 20, 1958. The airport boasted the world’s first airport moving walkways, and departures from twenty-six ramp-level gates over three concourses expanded service. On April 1, 1959, jet-powered operations commenced when Continental Airlines introduced the Vickers Viscount turboprop. On July 12, 1959, turbojet operations started when American Airlines (see AMR CORPORATION) initiated Boeing 707 flights to New York. The city of Dallas made numerous additions to Love Field’s terminal as American, Delta, Continental, and Braniff continued to ramp up with new jets while the local feeder airlines such as Texas International, Central Airlines, and Ozark grew their businesses. The terminal took on a jumbled and tangled appearance during the 1960s as many additions were built to accommodate the growth in air travel during the jet age.

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy landed at Love Field aboard a Boeing 707 designated as Air Force One. They greeted citizens en route to a fundraising luncheon when Kennedy was fatally shot on the parade route through downtown Dallas (see KENNEDY ASSASSINATION). The thirty-sixth president of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, took the oath of office administered by federal judge Sarah Tilghman Hughes of the northern district of Texas onboard Air Force One at Love Field on November 22, 1963. Minutes later the aircraft took flight to Washington, D. C. with the newly-sworn in president and with the body of Kennedy aboard.  

By 1964 Love Field was the largest air terminal in the Southwest. Some of the carriers that would call Love Field home or that operated routes from the field beginning in the 1920s to the 1970s included the following: Delta Airlines; Central Airlines; Pioneer Airlines; Continental Airlines; Trans-Texas Airways, later Texas International Airlines; Braniff Airways, later Braniff Airlines and Braniff International; American Airlines; Eastern Airlines; Pan American World Airways; Trans World Airlines; Southwest Airlines; Muse Air; and Legend Airlines. Not all the above airlines existed in the twenty-first century, as some merged and some simply financially perished. By 1965 Braniff introduced “the end of the plain plane,” with neon-painted aircraft and innovative flight attendant uniforms with a terminal of the future that opened at Love Field in 1968.  

During the postwar period considerable competition for air traffic developed between Love Field and Meacham Field in Fort Worth. Attempts to consolidate and establish a regional airport culminated with the establishment of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (FAA identifier DFW) and the sudden reversal of Love Field's prominence. In 1973, prior to the opening of the new airport, Love Field had more than seventy gates, had frequent Boeing 747 service, and reached a record enplanements of 6,668,398 and ranked the eighth busiest airport in America. By the next year, however, it had lost all its carriers except Southwest Airlines to the new facility. The Civil Aeronautics Board had ordered all carriers to use the new airport when it became operational on January 13, 1974.

Southwest Airlines began operating in 1971 and had not been a signatory to any agreement that would force the airline from Love Field. In 1973 a court decision stated that the city of Dallas could not compel Southwest, an intrastate carrier, to abandon Love Field. Therefore, the airline could continue service in Texas.

By 1975 enplanements at Love Field dipped to 467,212 and several concourses of the airport became decommissioned. A “Llove” Entertainment Complex” was built encompassing the main lobby at a former terminal that included movie theaters, a roller rink, video arcades, a bowling alley, restaurants, and an ice rink. The center closed in 1978 and was remodeled to support training centers for Southwest Airlines.

In the interim, the Wright Amendment and the later Shelby Amendment caused aviation chaos in Texas as competitors attempted to prevent the growth of Southwest Airlines. Southwest attempted to service passenger markets after the 1978 deregulation of the airline industry, and they prepared to fly interstate. Their business plan caused an uproar with major carriers, the city of Fort Worth, and DFW International Airport. To appease those that did not approve of expanded service out of Love Field, Congressional Representative Jim Wright pushed a law through that restricted further growth of flights from Love Field. The Wright Amendment limited traffic out of Love Field by focusing on destinations in the state of Texas along with the four contiguous states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. While long-haul service to states outside the perimeters was possible, seat capacity became limited to no more than fifty-six passengers. Southwest worked around the law and continued to build mini hubs with their usual point-to-point destination route system, becoming hugely successful and profitable. The airline flourished, regardless of the Wright Amendment. Other aviation entrepreneurs, although not successful, jumped into the market at Love Field. Lamar Muse and his son Michael Muse began Muse Air as a short-haul airline. Southwest later purchased the entity, and the operation ceased in 1987.

Court battles continued over the Wright Amendment as Fort Worth and DFW International Airport began to argue with Love Field and the city of Dallas. The city of Dallas clearly saw the monetary benefit of growth at Love Field, which in 1992 had 2,948,535 enplaned passengers and was one of the four Texas airports that accounted for 81 percent of Texas air travel. Lawyers argued for a continued modification of the Wright Amendment. The Shelby Amendment passed in Congress in 1997 and added three states—Kansas, Mississippi, and Alabama—to the possible route configurations out of Love Field. Any aircraft weighing less than 300,000 pounds which had been modified to capacity of fifty-six passengers or fewer would be allowed. At that time Continental, Delta, and start-up Legend Airlines all considered service from Love Field. Legend Airlines, unable to compete because of the large number of lawsuits that kept the airline grounded too long, filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Fort Worth sued Dallas to prevent the Shelby Amendment from taking effect. American Airlines joined the lawsuits against Dallas but also decided that the airline would have little choice but to fly out of Love too. Continental Express also announced service out of Love, beginning in 1998. American started service shortly thereafter. The lawsuits continued with Fort Worth and American suing the Department of Transportation to stop service from Love. The Wright Amendment eventually was repealed in 2014 allowing point-to-point flying out of Love Field for Southwest Airlines.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, took an immediate toll on the overall travel industry. Southwest became the first airline to advertise and to start flying quickly. Flights out of Love Field resumed on September 14, 2001. In 2002 Love Field celebrated eighty-five years of service and received a Texas historical marker in 2003. During 2003 only two major airlines operated out of Love Field, powerhouse Southwest and Continental Express. About nineteen incidents and accidents occurred at the airport between 1936 and 2009.

Love Field announced major renovations in 2009 with the implementation of a $519 million master plan to replace existing terminal buildings with a single twenty-gate concourse. As of the 2010s Southwest Airlines accounted for more than 90 percent of daily traffic at Love Field. A second tenant at the airport, Alaska Airlines (occupying only two gates), offered service to West Coast cities. Delta flew a daily shuttle from its hub in Atlanta to Love Field. By 2015 Love Field ranked sixteenth as one of the nation’s best-run airports, with an efficient operation and significant revenue growth. The home to dynamo Southwest Airlines, Love Field led all airports as to growth in passenger boarding (enplanements) and in growth of non-aviation revenue. As of 2017, however, the airport also shouldered $574.5 million in long-term debt, which ranked thirty-sixth among the nation’s airports. About sixteen million passengers traveled through Love Field in 2019. Between April 2019 and March 2020, Southwest carried more than fourteen million passengers to and from the airport.           

The COVID-19 Pandemic beginning in 2020 had a deleterious effect on Southwest Airlines and businesses at Love Field. The aviation industry recovery was still in flux in the early 2020s. Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan envisioned 2022 as a “rebuilding” year for the carrier at a time when the labor market was tight and staffing the airline remained a challenge.