Continental Express, citing increased demand among business travelers, has partially squeezed American Airlines from the gates the carriers share at Dallas Love Field.

Beginning July 9, Continental will add two daily Love-to- Houston round-trip flights, forcing American to shift three Love-to-Austin routes to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport beginning July 2, scrapping one daily flight in the process.

Continental Express can elbow American for space at Love Field because it has preferential use of gates 41 and 42, the gates shared by the two airlines but controlled by Continental.

"They are our gates and, as we need them for additional flights, we need to use them more often," said Michele King, a spokeswoman for Continental Express in Houston. "We have increased the flights due to demand by our customers."

American described the move as "taking the gates away from us, if you will, during some of the prime times of the day," spokesman Tim Smith said.

Continental Express wasn't the only airline irritated with American. Legend fought back against the City of Fort Worth and American Airlines asking a federal court to prevent anyone from interfering with its plan to fly out of Dallas Love Field, much like Southwest had to do 15 years earlier.

American opposed Legend's service, fearing it would lose some of its North Dallas business travelers, who were among its most profitable customers. American pointed out that Love Field was closer to these business travelers' homes and businesses than the D/FW airport. Sound familiar?

Finally, in spite of Ft. Worth's DFW's and AA's best efforts a federal appeals court cleared the way in February, 2000 for Legend Airlines to begin service at Love Field.

"We are delighted about the ruling," said T. Allan McArtor, Legend's chief executive and president. "We think the real winners out of this are the travelers in Dallas."

Meanwhile, over at AA, they weren't happy at all. "We have known all along that we had an uphill battle with the Department of Transportation," said Dee Kelly, an attorney for Ft. Worth and a director at American Airlines."I guess a deal is not a deal anymore if the Feds say so."

A "deal" is no longer a "deal" when the courts rule that the "deal" is legally unenforceable (i.e. illegal.) Deal with it, Ft. Worth.

For the most part, Southwest maintained a low profile and stayed out of the fight going about their business of making money flying folks and freight in their own unique way.

Southwest had been the launch customer for the long-range Boeing 737-700 and took delivery of the first aircraft in December 1997 enabling them to fly coast to coast for the first time, but they held off on major long-haul East-West expansion until they had time to accquire more.

Southwest's 1996 entry into Providence, 50 miles south of Boston had been such a success that it was no surprise when Manchester, NH, 45 miles north of Boston was added in June 1998.�Southwest continued its expansion in the Northeast adding Islip, NY, Hartford, CT and Raleigh/Durham in 1999, followed by Albany and Buffalo in 2000.

Every year, Southwest's network became more complex and new markets added more competition.across the country and as more flights were added at the larger stations, more connection possibilities were created. Some cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Houston were starting to resemble mini-hubs.

In the Northeast, Baltimore was becoming another mini-hub for Southwest. Each time Southwest opened a new city in the Northeast, it usually got 7 or more initial daily flights to Baltimore. Besides frequent flights to Providence Manchester, Hartford, Islip, Ralegh-Durham, Albany and Buffalo, Baltimore also saw service added to Florida, Nashville and the midwest. Baltimore soon became Southwest's fastest growing city.

For the most part, Love Field remained disconnected from the rest of the system thanks to the Wright Amendment. Southwest wasn't successful because of it. They were successful in spite of it.

They focused on themselves and their operations. They looked for ways to save money like ticketless travel. They perfected the art of the turn -- bringing in a plane, unloading passengers and luggage, refueling, loading up again and pushing back in 20 minutes. Planes in the air made money. Planes on the ground don't.

Southwest flies out of airports where they can make the most money. And they do. Just ask their shareholders.