By the early 1960s, Love Field was reaching the limits of its terminal and parking capacity despite repeated expansion projects, and its runways were too short to accommodate new intercontinental jets.

[1] The situation was inefficient and hampered airline service to both cities, and in 1964, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered Dallas and Fort Worth to find a site for a new joint regional airport.

Before DFW's opening, Southwest filed suit to remain at Love Field, claiming that no legal basis existed to close the airport to commercial service and that it was not bound by an agreement it did not sign.

[4] In 1971, Southwest obtained an operating certificate from the Texas Aeronautics Commission (TAC) for intrastate flights, claiming that the CAB had no authority over flights that did not cross state borders; however, Southwest was quickly sued by Dallas, Fort Worth, and the DFW Airport Board, who contested this assertion, claiming that the 1964 CAB ruling also applied to the new carrier.

The through-ticketing and connecting flight restrictions in the law were not seriously explored until Continental Airlines proposed in 1985 to begin service between Love Field and Houston.

The Wright Amendment became controversial in Dallas; some argued that it unfairly restricted airline competition by discouraging carriers other than Southwest from serving Love Field, while others supported it to mitigate jet noise and protect property values near the airport.

[11] In early July, Texas members of the U.S. House Rules Committee blocked Glickman's bill, Strauss withdrew her support, and the City Council rescinded their 1989 vote.

The new airline would be headed by T. Allan McArtor and would use refurbished McDonnell Douglas DC-9s or Boeing 727s—aircraft that normally carried 90 or more passengers—with an all-first class configuration and the excess space used for cargo.

However, the USDOT general counsel ruled in September 1996 that the 56-seat restriction applied to the "designed capacity" of an airliner rather than to the number of seats actually installed, prompting Legend to seek a change in the law; Texas Rep. Joe Barton was soon calling for the U.S. House to address the 56-seat requirement.

[15] In October 1998, Legend sued Fort Worth, accusing the city of a "double standard" in its simultaneous support for Alliance and opposition to expansion at Love.

[26] However, State District Judge Bob McCoy dismissed the suit later that month on the grounds that Legend was not a party to the 1968 DFW bond agreement and thus lacked standing to sue.

[29] On 5 April 2000, after further legal battles against Fort Worth and American Airlines and delays in gaining final approval from the FAA, Legend began the first long-haul service from Love Field since 1974 with a flight to Washington Dulles International Airport in a refurbished 56-seat McDonnell Douglas DC-9.

[34] The same day, American Airlines responded with an announcement that it would start service from Love Field to the same Missouri airports on 2 March 2006, along with flights to the Southwest strongholds of San Antonio and Austin, Texas.

Print media, the Internet, billboards, and TV spots were all used, directing the viewer or reader to visit the Set Love Free website, created by Southwest Airlines.

They believed that eliminating the amendment, and thus allowing any airline to fly long-haul service out of Love Field, would allow the so-called "Southwest effect" to occur, where new, inexpensive capacity will increase traffic at both airports (assuming that the market effect of low fares on flights into and out of Love Field will serve to drive down fares on corresponding routes at DFW); these projections are based upon historic results in other air travel markets in which low-fare carriers, most frequently, Southwest, have initiated service.

On June 15, 2006, it was announced that American, Southwest, DFW Airport and the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth had all agreed to seek full repeal of the Wright Amendment, with several conditions.

The proposed compromise was opposed by JetBlue Airways and other low-fare carriers, who argued that the gate reductions at Love would harm their ability to begin service there, and by area congressmen who opposed provisions of the deal that they believed would restrict competition in passenger service at other airports within an 80-mile (130 km) radius of DFW and Love, including Collin County Regional Airport in the nearby city of McKinney.

On July 25, 2006, a leaked memorandum from an employee of the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division raised concerns about airline competition in North Texas and urged legislators to force a renegotiation of the deal.

[38] Southwest and American then required approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin one-stop flights from Love Field to destinations outside the Wright limits.