Phoenix romances Southwest

By The Associated Press
DALLAS - Phoenix officials have met with executives from Southwest Airlines Co. to discuss the low-cost carrier moving its headquarters from Dallas and may soon make a formal offer, officials for the city and the airline said.

Southwest officials say several other cities also have approached the airline, which is locked in a dispute about expanding at its home, Dallas Love Field. Southwest has declined to identify the other bidding cities.

The airline also was miffed last week when Dallas increased landing fees at Love Field by 57 percent beginning in April to raise an extra $1 million a year.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon spoke with Southwest Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly by phone about a possible move two weeks ago, and he dropped in last week when city airport officials were having lunch with Southwest representatives.
Oklahoma City needs to be one of these cities vying for the headquarters and primary ops site! I hope we can put together a package for them; I mean consider the obvious:

1) OKC central location
2) New terminal at OKC with expansion capabilities (need to start expanding NOW!!!)
3) Close to Dallas, therefore not a huge move for most execs/families
4) Already significant ops in OKC, with plenty of space/land
5) Landing rights/fees in check, with no sign of increasing
6) A pro-business culture in OKC
7) A growing economy in OKC
8) An excellent "quality of life" in OKC
9) OKC is not a hub airport, therefore the airline could accomplish its mission of high frequency point-to-point ops with OKC being the nucleus! - only makes sense given its central location and lack of restrictions on air ops (no Wright Agreement)
10) The city/state has the $$ to make the deal happen

Look at the ten reasons I came up with that OKC should be chosen for the new hq and ops for SW. All of these are doable and legitimate!

Phoenix (and probably most other cities) are already hubs for other airlines and not centrally located, so that goes against them - big time.

In fact, the only city that could compete with OKC in this regard is KCMO; so OKC - JUMP ON IT!!!

I hope the city/chamber/state jumps all over this, if they have not already! OKC is a shoe in for this!

What do you all think?