Alaska Airlines exits Dallas Love Field as it focuses on American Airlines' big DFW hub

Alaska Airlines is making a big move in Dallas.

The Seattle-based carrier will cease operating from Dallas Love Field (DAL) on May 14, as first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson. Alaska currently operates five weekly flights between DAL and its hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and this 1,670-mile route will be cut in tandem with the closure of Alaska's DAL outstation.

Going forward, Alaska will consolidate all its Dallas-area operations at the far larger Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), which is located about 15 miles from DAL.

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DFW is the biggest airport in Texas, and it's also the largest hub for one of Alaska's closest Oneworld alliance partners: American Airlines. From DFW, American flies to nearly 250 destinations on almost 1,000 daily flights.

"Moving forward, we will consolidate our operations at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW)," Alaska explained in a statement. "DFW is centrally located with easy access to all points across the Dallas Metroplex and allows our guests to connect beyond Dallas to cities in the Midwest and along the East Coast with our codeshare partner American Airlines."

Alaska inherited its flying at Dallas Love Field from Virgin America during the airline's acquisition in April 2016. Virgin America first launched service from the Dallas airport in October 2014 with service to Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Virgin America eventually added flights from DAL to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) in April 2015, followed by service to Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in December 2015.

Ever since the Virgin acquisition, Alaska Airlines has shuffled its service at Love Field. In recent years, the airline has been serving San Francisco and Seattle from the airport, but the Bay Area flight was cut last April.

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Now, Alaska seemingly couldn't make its remaining five-times-weekly service from DAL to SEA work, so it's just going to break up with Love Field.

From DFW, Alaska flies to Oregon's Portland International Airport (PDX) and SEA, though it's possible more routes could be added in the future now that the Love Field service is being phased out.

Southwest Airlines operates at 18 of the 20 gates at Dallas Love Field. The two other carriers operating from DAL are Alaska and Delta Air Lines, which split their operations across the remaining two gates.

Without access to enough space to support multiple daily operations, it seems that Alaska might just be better off throwing in the towel and focusing its efforts at nearby DFW.

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