DC-area senators vow to fight Reagan National expansion ‘with everything we’ve got’ 

A coalition of Washington-area senators have vowed to oppose the proposed Reagan National Airport changes “with everything we’ve got,” noting that such expansion would be a “disaster” for their constituents.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) wrote a Washington Post op-ed piece published Thursday outlining why they opposed changes proposed in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill that would revise slot and perimeter rules at Reagan National Airport.

The authors wrote that this would cause delays for travelers and would interfere with the balance of the three D.C.-area airports.

“Unfortunately, some in Congress are attempting to destabilize this tried-and-true equilibrium with unwelcome changes in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, which will be voted on in the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday,” the lawmakers wrote. “We strongly oppose these efforts and intend to fight this push in the Senate with everything we’ve got.”

Changes to the slot and perimeter rules govern how many flights can operate out of Reagan National Airport (DCA) as well as the distance of those destinations. The lawmakers wrote that some members of Congress want to change this rule “because they want more flights out West and some airlines want a bigger piece of the action at National.”

Reagan National Airport currently has a perimeter rule of about 1,250 miles, according to the airport’s website. The two other airports in the region, Dulles International Airport and the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), both already have much larger perimeters than Reagan.

The lawmakers argue that residents in the D.C. area already have three different airports to get them where they need to go, saying that expanding Reagan National Airport’s service would “cause longer lines and more delays at DCA, more noise for nearby residents — and economic losses along the Dulles corridor in Northern Virginia as well as in the BWI business district.”

The FAA said in a memo obtained by Punchbowl News that an increase of 20 daily round-trip flights would increase delays by 25.9 percent, while 25 additional round-trip flights would increase delays by 33.2 percent. The lawmakers noted that Reagan only has one runway that can handle commercial traffic, and it is the busiest runway in the United States.

The lawmakers argued that there is no direction where the airport can expand due to it being surrounded by the most restrictive airspace in the country. They said that the rules would “undermine” the investments made to Dulles Airport and BWI, including the Metro silver line expansion to Dulles.

“At the same time, previous changes eroding the slot and perimeter rules have prevented Dulles Airport and BWI from realizing their full potential,” the lawmakers wrote. “Dulles Airport boasts four long runways spread over about 12,000 acres. Likewise, BWI can call upon two long runways spread across nearly 3,600 acres.”