FAA bill adds 5 long-distance flights to Reagan National airport

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization deal reached between Senate and House negotiators includes the Senate’s language to add five round-trip flights to Reagan Washington National Airport that would be allowed to fly beyond the airport’s 1,250-mile perimeter.

The language, negotiated by Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Commerce panel’s ranking Republican, was strongly opposed by Virginia and Maryland lawmakers who argued it would create too much congestion at National Airport.

But the addition of the provision was applauded Monday by the Capital Access Alliance, which argued that adding longer-distance flight slots would create more competition and benefit consumers flying out of Washington.

“This bipartisan compromise represents a win for air travelers who suffer from some of the highest domestic ticket prices in the country because of an outdated federal regulation that has stifled competition in the national capital region for nearly six decades,” CAA spokesperson and Northern Virginia resident Brian Walsh said.

Some lawmakers, including Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), wanted to add significantly more long-distance slots to National Airport. Warnock proposed adding up to 28 additional flight slots allowed to fly beyond the 1,250-mile perimeter.

But that proposal ran into staunch opposition from Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who argued that National Airport is already exceeding its designed capacity.

Opponents of adding more long-distant flights note that it tops the list of America’s busiest commercial runways with 819 daily scheduled operations.

Kaine took to the Senate floor recently to point to the near collision between a Southwest Airlines flight and a JetBlue Airways flight. He argued that heavy traffic at the airport is a major safety risk.

National airport ranks third among the United States’ 30 largest airports for “runway incursions” or the presence of unauthorized aircraft, vehicles or persons on runways.

But proponents for adding more long-distance flights to the airport — which is a short drive from downtown Washington and located conveniently along the city’s public transportation system — say it would create more competition for United Airlines, which controls many of the gates at the further-flung Dulles Airport, located 26 miles to the west of the District.

Warner, Kaine, Van Hollen and Cardin, however, argued in a Washington Post op-ed last year that adding more long-distance flights to National Airport would “destabilize” the “tried-and-true” equilibrium among that airport, Dulles and Baltimore/Washington International (BWI).

They warned it would cause longer lines and more delays at National Airport, more noise for nearby residents and create economic losses along the Dulles corridor in Northern Virginia and in the BWI business district.

Kaine, Warner, Van Hollen and Cardin pledged to fight the provisions adding more flights when it reaches the Senate floor.

“We are deeply frustrated that committee leadership with jurisdiction over the FAA Reauthorization Act – none of whom represent the capital region – have decided to ignore the flashing red warning light of the recent near collision of two aircraft at DCA and jam even more flights onto the busiest runway in America,” they said in a joint statement.

An FAA study published last May found that adding 20 long-distance round-trip flights to National Airport would increase delays by 25.9 percent. It is the 10th-most delayed airport in the country.

The Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports said lawmakers should prioritize consumers who would face longer and more frequent delays at National.

“Those who seek to add more flights to an already at-capacity and overburdened DCA jeopardize the best interest of the consumer and are ensuring more delays, congestion and cancellations for those traveling to and through our nation’s capital region,” the group said in a statement.

Updated at 2:25 p.m.