Here are top ten Airline stories for 2014, with a strong bias towards the U.S. airline industry

No. 1: The Wright amendment ends, and Love Field booms

For nearly 35 years, the federal law known as the Wright amendment kept the shackles on Dallas Love Field. On Oct. 13, the shackles came off, and airlines took full advantage

Southwest Airlines Co. now has 49 longer-haul flights beyond the old Wright amendment boundaries. Virgin America Inc., which moved from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, is offering 13 flights to both coasts. Delta Air Lines Inc. is flying larger planes on its five daily drips to Atlanta

In all, airlines are operating 33 percent more flights every day than before Oct. 13, as visitors trying to find parking spaces can attest

Is that too much capacity? It might have been stimulated by cheap introductory fares, but Southwest has said it is filling 90 percent of its seats on the new flights out of Love Field

No. 2: Airline profits soar as demand rises and fuel falls

Is this the same U.S. airline industry that lost tens of billions of dollars in the last decade? Investors might want to demand two forms of I.D. from these airlines

The industry has certainly changed its appearance, from one of perpetual money-loser to an enormous profit machine

Excluding one-time charges and special items, analysts expect the Big 4 — American Airlines Group Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc., Delta and Southwest — to earn over $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter and more than $10 billion for all of 2014

Including six other smaller airlines like JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and Alaska Air Group, fourth-quarter earnings will go to around $11.5 billion for 2014

At current estimates, those same 10 airlines are expected to earn close to $17 billion in 2015, with $15 billion coming from the Big 4

No. 3: Southwest Airlines finishes absorbing AirTran Airways

Late Sunday night, an AirTran Airways Inc. jet took a load of Southwest and AirTran executives on a regularly scheduled flight from Atlanta to Tampa, Fla

That was the end of AirTran Airways as an operating carrier

Southwest, which acquired AirTran on May 2, 2011, has taken more than 3½ years to digest AirTran’s cities, people and fleet as AirTran slowly shrank

The merger helped Southwest begin its first international service on July 1, pushed it to replace its aging reservations system, gave it quick entry into such markets as Atlanta and Washington Reagan National Airport and, for all practical purposes, finished its expansion in the lower 48 U.S. states

No. 4: American Airlines and US Airways make major strides in their merger

Next year is shaping up to be the big year in the American Airlines Inc. and US Airways Inc. merger. If all goes as planned, the new American will put together the two carriers’ frequent-flier program, put all flights on the same reservation system and get Federal Aviation Administration approval for a single operating certificate

But if 2015 succeeds, it will be because of all the groundwork and progress made in 2014 — much of it invisible to passengers, but necessary all the same

The two carriers linked their networks, gave reciprocal benefits in their frequent-flier programs, put airport operations together at more than 90 airports and made other steps to move to a single airline. Less obvious was the behind-the-scenes work on staffing, policies, technology, uniforms and the many other elements in putting two companies together

No. 5: The battle over Dallas Love Field gates heats up

When the U.S. Department of Justice settled its antitrust lawsuit with American and US Airways in November 2013, it required American to surrender its two gates at the new Dallas Love Field terminal

And the fighting began

Southwest pushed hard to get the gates, which would have given it 18 of the 20 gates at the airport. Delta wanted the gates to operate 22 flights a day there. Virgin America wanted to move its operations from D/FW Airport

The Justice Department finally clarified what had to happen to satisfy the terms of the antitrust settlement: Virgin America would get the gates. Period

No. 6: D/FW Airport polishes the “international” part of its name

For D/FW International Airport, 2014 really put the “international” into its name

Before Jan. 1, the airport had no nonstop flights to China and only one flight to the Middle East. By Dec. 31, airlines had launched service to Shanghai and Hong Kong, Doha and Abu Dhabi

The most aggressive expansion came from the airport’s biggest customer, American. The carrier launched nonstop flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai on June 11, and also announced 2015 service to Beijing

Emirates Airline, which began service from Dubai in 2012, picked up two Middle East competitors in 2014 — Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways

Late in the year, the airport also started getting visits from the world’s largest commercial passenger airplane, the Airbus A380, thanks to Qantas Airways and Emirates

No. 7: Major carriers make changes to their frequent-flier programs

In the early days of frequent-flier programs, a mile flown was a mile earned. Increasingly now, it’s the dollars spent that matter

Both Delta and United Airlines Inc. announced in 2014 that they are converting their frequent-flier programs next year to base the awards on the dollars spent for a ticket, not the miles flown

The logical question is whether American will convert its AAdvantage program. American officials have made clear that if any such change is made, it won’t be in 2015 as it focuses on combining AAdvantage and US Airways’ Dividend Miles program

But the Delta and United changes forced American to respond with big bonuses for its best customers who buy the most expensive tickets. American’s bonuses, however, are still rooted in miles flown

No. 8: Malaysia-based airlines suffer triple tragedies

Malaysia Airlines suffered through what has to be one of the worst years ever for a commercial airline, as one airline disappeared and another one was shot down

On the evening of March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from the airline’s home base of Kuala Lumpur on a regularly scheduled flight to Beijing

Where it wound up remains one of the biggest mysteries of the history of aviation

Four months later, another Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it apparently was shot out of the air as it passed over eastern Ukraine. It crashed in a rural area, killing 298 people

This week, a flight operated by another Malaysia-based carrier, AirAsia, crashed into the Java Sea with 162 aboard. Investigators are working to determine a cause of Sunday’s crash

No. 9: Virgin America goes public as investors love airlines

Virgin America took a long time to get to its initial public offering. It began flying in 2007, just before the U.S. economy entered into the recession and energy prices soared to historical levels

But the California carrier finally had its initial public offering Nov. 13, and its stock price has already made some big gains for investors

All in all, it’s been a very good year for airline stocks as their profits soared. American, Southwest and Hawaiian Holdings saw their stock prices more than double. Investors in most other U.S. carriers also enjoyed hefty returns on their shares

No. 10: The pilot shortage begins to bite

Some observers have been predicting a shortage of airline pilots for years. In 2014, that shortage became more apparent as some airlines found it hard to attract enough qualified candidates

It doesn’t seem to be a problem at present for the big mainline carriers. They continue to receive enough applications. But many of their new pilots are coming from the smaller regional airlines, where pay and opportunities are less