Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and United Airlines against relaxing DCA perimeter rule
Samantha-Jo Roth
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The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and United Airlines urge Congress not to allow the addition of longer nonstop flights out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, arguing the airport is too small to accommodate additional air service.
MWAA, which manages operations at DCA and Dulles International Airport, and United Airlines are attempting to make the case that changing the rules that limit long-distance flying at the airport closest to Washington, D.C., would create more congestion and delays, would cause a reduction of service at Dulles, and could exacerbate the air traffic controller shortage.
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The opposition from MWAA and United is not new. The Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports launched last week with the backing of United Airlines and the MWAA. On a media briefing call Thursday, David Mould, MWAA’s vice president for communications, argued that the main runway at DCA is the busiest in the nation.
“The slot system assigns airlines a permit to take off or land during a certain hour. The slots are there to control congestion, which can certainly be a safety issue,” Mould said in his opening statements on the call. “DCA has one main runway, and it’s relatively short. I handle over 90% of all of its flights because the other cross-wind runway is too short for most larger planes.”
Mould emphasized the perimeter rule helps keep larger planes at Dulles or Baltimore, where he said there’s “sufficient runway capacity for them.”
“Bigger planes serving further away destinations are generally heavier and make more noise and usually arrive and depart in the early morning or late night hours,” Mould added.
At issue is the perimeter rule, which limits the number of flights that travel more than 1,250 from DCA. Both Reagan and Dulles are owned by the federal government, which means Congress has the power to decide how they operate. Over the years, lawmakers have carved out exemptions to allow a small number of flights at the airport that are beyond the 1,250-mile limit.
The Capital Access Alliance, a coalition of business groups and Delta Air Lines, is proposing that lawmakers alter the perimeter requirements at DCA as part of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization. CAA argues the regulations are outdated and hurt the economy. It wants to increase the number of flights that travel beyond the 1,250 miles from the airport, allowing as many as 25 daily round trips.
It cited a new study that found DCA has enough capacity to handle as many as 90 additional flights per day. The group also pointed to a Government Accountability Office report from November 2020 that cited the FAA saying there are “39 total daily unallocated spots available for commercial airlines at Reagan National” and that the airport is operating “well below the 12 maximum authorized hourly reservations for general aviation aircraft.”
A group of House Republicans from Western states recently sent a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders supporting the expansion of long-distance slots at DCA.
The lawmakers said that adding an additional 28 flights per day inside and outside the perimeter would enable them to connect with their districts better and called out current restrictions that do not allow direct flights to San Antonio or San Diego or any beyond the one direct flight a day to Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Austin.
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Additionally, Reps. Burgess Owens (R-UT) and Hank Johnson (D-GA) introduced a bill earlier this month that would allow airlines to offer more long-distance service out of DCA and 28 more flights daily.
United Airlines Vice President for International Regulatory and Policy Steve Morrissey pushed back on the proposal to add more DCA flights, arguing points from the CAA and lawmakers are “not credible” or “supported by facts.”
“I think common sense just argues against there being lots of capacity left at DCA. Any argument or study that suggests DCA can handle more clearly started with conclusions and then stretched to find arguments to support those conclusions,” Morrissey said on the call Thursday.
Morrissey pointed out that DCA experiences delays of an hour or more with 20% of departures and 22% of arrivals, and he asserted Dulles is better equipped to deal with longer flights.
The lobbying fight comes as lawmakers soon will tackle the FAA’s reauthorization. There are expected to be looming fights on everything from the modernization of the FAA to certifying new aircraft. Both MWAA and United Airlines said their organizations had been in touch with lawmakers who are crafting the legislation.
United, which has a hub at Dulles, pushed back at criticism that its opposition to the expansion of long-haul flights at DCA could be tied to business interests.
“I would say that’s demonstrably false, speaking for United Airlines,” Morrissey said in response to a question from the Washington Examiner. “This is not about protecting United at all. It’s about the system working.”
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Morrissey also argued that adding flights at DCA could affect international flights at Dulles.
“It’s not just inside the perimeter service. It’s full service, domestic, international,” he said. “Changes to the perimeter rule at DCA that pulls flights away from Dulles make it harder to grow international service to the region.”