Senators from Maryland and Virginia are keeping up pressure against adding flight slots to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as others push Senate transportation leaders to agree on more flights as part of the chamber’s must-pass Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg dated Wednesday, Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia and Benjamin L. Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said National is a small, regional airport, and that any additional flights to it risk “endangering this system, both by overtaxing the airport’s facilities — which are at capacity — and by forcing airlines to reconsider their service to regional markets.”
The issue hinges on a perimeter rule for the airport set by Congress in the 1960s that essentially makes National a short-haul airport, limited to flights within 1,250 miles with some exemptions. Some House and Senate lawmakers from outside the perimeter want Congress to add exemptions to the chambers’ FAA reauthorization package. The current FAA authorization, enacted in 2018, is scheduled to expire Sept. 30.
