Southwest expects gate-sharing with Delta in Dallas to be difficult

Reuters
A Southwest Airlines jet comes in to land at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, California February 25, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake

(Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co expects that squeezing in extra flights at its gates at Dallas Love Field Airport will be a challenge now that a U.S. court has asked it to accommodate flights by Delta Air Lines Inc temporarily.

"It's not going to be easy," Southwest's Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly said Thursday on a conference call with media. "It will be incumbent upon all parties to be cooperative and level-headed, but yeah, it's going to be crowded."

The low-cost airline controls 18 of 20 gates at the Dallas airport, its headquarters, and an agreement that was set to expire on July 6 allowed Delta to operate five daily flights from the gates.

But last month a Dallas judge asked Southwest to keep accommodating Delta until the parties settle on a long-term resolution over their gate rights in court.

Southwest had planned to ramp up daily departures at its Dallas headquarters to 180 in August, which had been contingent upon regaining all takeoff and arrival slots from Delta.

"Our people are planning as best they can" to meet this goal despite Delta's presence, Kelly said, so the carrier does not have to cancel the extra flights and rebook passengers.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)