The politicians were so strongly involved that by the 1990s, Western politicans were mad they had to go to Dulles. When it went to 1,250 miles, DFW magically snuck in. The 650-mile limit conveniently included Chicago at 612 miles along with Atlanta in the south and the entire Northeast. You don’t want to have to schlep out to Dulles to fly home every week. Imagine being a politician working in the heart of DC. Now, why would they do this and not just shut down National and put all traffic at Dulles back in the day? It’s all politics, of course. So, Congress created a perimeter rule to limit flights from National to 650 miles - it wasn’t extended to 1,250 miles until the 1980s - to force all other traffic to Dulles. When they decided to build Dulles Airport way out in the sticks of Virginia, they wanted to force airlines to use the airport. That’s about the closest to a valid rationale I could think of… if it were true… when the reality is far dumber. Red = routing required for flights longer than 1,250 milesĪnd of course, that’s not true at all. See…īlue = normal aircraft routing to/from Washington/National The heavier aircraft weights required for longer distance flying meant that a winding, lower and slower climb would be required that put important national security landmarks right in the crosshairs of these airplanes. The rule came about in the 1960s in response to concerns about aircraft safety. But National is limited to flights of no more than 1,250 miles by federal law, and this is a restriction that has been debated for ages. National Airport is located just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC and is by far the most convenient airport for those downtown (and in Arlington, Virginia). Today, I’ll focus on the latest effort to remove Washington National Airport’s perimeter rule, an effort that’s being backed by Delta. There are rarely new ideas but instead resurrected old ones. ‘Tis the season to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Congress, and that means it’s time for all sorts of ideas to crawl out of the woodwork in hopes of being included in the bill.
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