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Since 1966, this congressionally mandated rule has limited the number of flights allowed to land at or take off from DCA each day, and restricted the distance most of them may fly to an arbitrary 1,250-mile radius. Reagan National is the only airport in the country constrained by such a federal statute, yet there is a clear need to offer more nonstop flights to the western part of our country from Washington, D.C.
Since Congress imposed these limits, it will take an act of Congress to change them. Encouragingly, Congress has before it two bipartisan bills to modernize the perimeter rule by authorizing 28 additional daily flights — including longer nonstop flights — to DCA: the Direct Capital Access Act, introduced by Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah), and a similar bill introduced by Sens. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.). There is growing momentum to include these bills, or something similar, as an amendment to this year’s Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation. Congress should get this done.
As governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002, I recognized Reagan National’s tremendous importance to the economic strength of Northern Virginia. I visited a shuttered DCA shortly after the 9/11 attacks and worked diligently with President George W. Bush to get the airport reopened. The detrimental impact its closure was having on the businesses that served it and the surrounding community was clear.
Since the inception of the perimeter rule, federal, state and local authorities have invested billions in DCA. Yet the antiquated, mid-century regulation continues to hamper the airport. Travelers from the Western United States to the D.C. area are forced into connecting flights instead of being able to fly direct.
This protectionist measure — originally intended to help the newer Dulles International Airport succeed and grow — has long outlived that purpose. Six decades later, Dulles is thriving. According to the U.S. Transportation Department, it is home to the most expensive flights in the country. Modernizing the perimeter rule by allowing longer distance flights and an increased number of slots — i.e., daily flights — into and out of DCA would lower airline ticket prices for those who live in the D.C. area and visitors to our region by increasing competition and giving travelers more choice among direct flights.
Taxpayers funding government travel from Washington to other parts of the country pay the higher ticket prices caused by the lack of competition Major businesses headquartered in Northern Virginia also pay stepped-up ticket prices for their employees’ travel. But individual travelers pay those same higher fares, with no government or business to cover the cost. That’s why a majority of Virginians supports modernizing the perimeter rule.
Virginia leaders should remember that following free market and pro-business principles over the past two decades has transformed Northern Virginia into not only an economic engine for the commonwealth, but also a beacon for others when it comes to innovation, creation of high-paying jobs and sustained economic growth. Opposing the modernization of an outdated statute that’s been around since before the microwave is opposing the values that made Northern Virginia and the entire commonwealth models of opportunity.
Opponents of modification keep trotting out the same old talking points to make their case, but the facts don’t back up their rhetoric. Noise levels would increase, they say. But modern aircraft are far less noisy than they were even a few years ago. The intent of the regulation has been achieved. Now is the time to think about air travel for the next generation.
I fully agree that Congress should not involve itself in airport operations. Indeed, it appears to have done so only at DCA. Now, despite the voices seeking to maintain the perimeter rule, I urge Congress to find ways to modernize it to give consumers in the D.C. area more choices.
In my time as governor, my administration worked every single day to put Virginians first. Now, I am asking Congress to put travelers first. Six decades of playing favorites with airports and airlines is more than long enough.
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