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Democrats spoke AGAINST adding more flights to CONGESTED DCA airport but Republicans insisted on it
Last edited Thu Jan 30, 2025, 06:57 PM - Edit history (6)
My career was in the airline industry. Reagan National Airport (“DCA”) in Washington DC has been talked about as an excessively crowded, difficult airport for years.
Did excess flights help cause this accident? EVEN IF the Black Hawk helicopter was “100% responsible”, the answer can still possibly be “yes”. In aviation, it’s usually a series of mistakes or multiple contributing factors that result in accidents. We talk about safety systems and safety margins. My son (who has some hours of flying) commented to me the meaning of the helicopter pilot requesting ‘visual separation’ on the aircraft, and suggested as an example, that the helicopter pilot might have been looking at a DIFFERENT aircraft in the sky, believing it to be American Airlines plane that the ATC was referring to. Yeah, that would be a plausible scenario — among many. The point is that excess traffic in that complicated, crowded airspace makes those safety margins unacceptably slim sometimes.
Senator Jerry Moran (R) from Kansas had this sad moment in his interview about the crash:
"It's very personal," said U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, who chairs a subcommittee on aviation. "I know that flight. I've flown it many times myself. [b]I lobbied American Airlines to begin having direct, nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence for about a year, and it's certainly true that in Kansas, in Wichita in particular, we're going to know people on that flight."
Amendment 71 to HR3935 was an attempt by some (mostly Republican) congressmen to add 7 “slots” — round trip, that’s 14 more flights.
The amendment failed 205-229, with yes votes coming mostly from Republicans (167, 75%) and nay votes coming from Democrats (174, 82%). (More to follow in a subsequent post on how the additional five round trip flights ended up in the final version of the law.)
The FAA was opposed to adding flights. Mostly, the airlines probably don’t want to be operating some of the DCA flights. Congresspeople naturally want them - departing from Capitol Hill, it’s a one hour drive (or a 90 minute train ride) to Dulles airport, but only 16 minutes to DCA - and airlines can’t seem to say “no” to congressman, for some reason
The debate on the floor included very direct and interesting opposition from certain Democrats. Here’s Rep. Beyer (D) from Virginia:
Mr. BEYER. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment falsely advertised as a compromise. Nobody asked our regional delegation about this, and we are united against adding more air traffic in DCA. DCA is way over capacity. It is the busiest runway in America and one of the shortest. There were 25 million people served last year in an airport designed for 14 million. Mr. Chair, 20 percent of the flights are already more than an hour late, and this will only make it worse. This is a congested, complex airspace--think Capitol, White House, and Pentagon. It is the third highest in aborted takeoffs and landings. These safety concerns will only be magnified.
Here’s Rep. Norton (D) from DC:
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment that would increase safety risks, delays, cancelations, diversions, and noise at National Airport, all for the personal convenience of some Members of Congress.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that manages Reagan National and Dulles Airports have both concluded that increasing the slot and perimeter rules would be harmful to the flying public.
The slot and perimeter rules at National Airport exist to ensure operational viability for both National and Dulles International Airports. National and Dulles work as an integrated airport system to meet the needs of the traveling public. Dulles has the operational capacity, space, and infrastructure to handle larger, long-distance flights and more flights per day than National Airport. National Airport already has the busiest runway in the Nation, was built as a small regional airport, and was never meant to manage flights from across the country. Mr. Chair, I urge the Members to oppose this amendment.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that manages Reagan National and Dulles Airports have both concluded that increasing the slot and perimeter rules would be harmful to the flying public.
The slot and perimeter rules at National Airport exist to ensure operational viability for both National and Dulles International Airports. National and Dulles work as an integrated airport system to meet the needs of the traveling public. Dulles has the operational capacity, space, and infrastructure to handle larger, long-distance flights and more flights per day than National Airport. National Airport already has the busiest runway in the Nation, was built as a small regional airport, and was never meant to manage flights from across the country. Mr. Chair, I urge the Members to oppose this amendment.
And finally here is Mr. Connolly (D) from Virginia:
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chair, I rise to oppose this amendment, which would risk flight safety and increase delays at National Airport, in the strongest terms possible. I will not, cannot support this bill if this amendment is adopted. This amendment violates every Congressional courtesy we try to extend to one another as colleagues who know our districts best. One of my first local government appointments was to the Fairfax County Airports Advisory Committee. I subsequently spent 14 years in local government helping maintain the delicate regional balance between the 2 major airports in Northern Virginia, National Airport and Dulles International Airport. I also led the effort to connect our nation's capital to Dulles via rail with the recently completed Silver Line extension of the DC Metro.
So let me introduce my colleagues to National Airport. It has the busiest runway in America. The busiest in America. The airport is designed to serve 15 million passengers annually. Last year, it served 24 million. That is 9 million passengers or 60 percent over capacity. The airport has the 3rd highest flight cancellation rate in the country, and 1 in every 5 flights is delayed by more than an hour. The FAA has certified that more flights would make those delays worse. This amendment, which would force even more flights out of National Airport, is reckless.The amendment, if adopted, would increase delays, exacerbate pilot and flight crew exhaustion, and risk the safety of flights in and out of National Airport. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.
So let me introduce my colleagues to National Airport. It has the busiest runway in America. The busiest in America. The airport is designed to serve 15 million passengers annually. Last year, it served 24 million. That is 9 million passengers or 60 percent over capacity. The airport has the 3rd highest flight cancellation rate in the country, and 1 in every 5 flights is delayed by more than an hour. The FAA has certified that more flights would make those delays worse. This amendment, which would force even more flights out of National Airport, is reckless.The amendment, if adopted, would increase delays, exacerbate pilot and flight crew exhaustion, and risk the safety of flights in and out of National Airport. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.
The Republicans supporting it gave some pretty specious arguments and sad stories about how ticket prices would be lower if they add these 14 flights and poor soldiers flying back would benefit from these flights and claimng that it wasn’t a safety issue. The several times i heard senior executives or chief pilots talk about DCA, it was to say that reducing the flights in and out of there is long overdue.
You can find the above text of debate at congress.gov; if you search for the discussion of house resolution 597 on this page:
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