TAKING FLIGHT: Southwest Airlines will add nonstop flights from Dallas to 15 cities this fall, all long-haul routes that have been blocked by a 1980 federal law. A provision added by Rep. Jim Wright, a Fort Worth Democrat who would later become speaker of the House, prohibited airlines from using planes with more than 56 seats from making long flights to or from Love Field.

TURF BATTLE: The Wright Amendment was designed to insulate the fledgling Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport from competition. American Airlines and other carriers moved their flights to DFW, now one of the world’s busiest airports, but Southwest stayed at Love Field. Because of the law, it could only fly from Dallas to cities in Texas and a few nearby states.