(The Center Square) — The U.S. House of Representatives voted 229-205 yesterday opposing the Direct Capital Access Act of 2023, the most recent version of legislation aiming to increase the number of flights offered at Virginia’s Reagan National Airport. The bill will next appear before the Senate.
The amendment would have added seven more daily flights to the airport – decreased from 28, as its authors originally proposed – by relaxing the long-time perimeter and slot rules.
The airport, also known as the DCA, is the only airport in the country with a federally imposed perimeter rule that “artificially restricts air travel,” according to Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the Capital Access Alliance, a group that opposes the rule.
The rule was implemented in 1969, and today, it prohibits nonstop flights to and from the airport that exceed 1,250 miles.
“The rule was put in place primarily to encourage passengers to use the [then] recently opened Dulles International Airport located approximately 30 miles west of DCA in Virginia. The rule effectively limited DCA to serve as a short-haul airport while IAD serves as a long-haul airport,” according to the American Action Forum, a nonprofit that writes on economic, domestic and fiscal policy issues.
Groups like the Capital Access Alliance and American Action Forum support easing the perimeter rule in an effort to make Washington, D.C., thus opening up more flights and increasing airline competition, making travel more accessible and affordable to visitors.
But other groups, like The Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports, support maintaining the existing perimeter, as they believe that bringing more flights to DCA will only overwhelm and overcrowd the airport.
“Members of Congress … voted to ensure safety, limit delays and cancellations, and protect regional access to the nation’s capital for communities across the country,” the CPARA said in a statement.
Both The Hill and The Washington Times have published op-eds advocating for amending the existing perimeter rule at the DCA, arguing, along with organizations like the CAA, that flights could be safely added to the airport.
United Airlines, whose CEO has mentioned expanding United’s flights at Dulles, has historically argued against changes to the perimeter rule at DCA. Delta supported the amendment.
