A bill to allow for additional flights beyond the perimeter restriction applicable to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Key claim: Airlines that already use Reagan National slots for flights to large hub airports could also use those slots for nonstop flights more than 1,250 miles away, which the airport’s perimeter rule otherwise blocks.
Abstract
(S2783 · 110th Congress) Amends federal transportation law to allow certain air carriers that hold or operate air carrier slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which are used for scheduled air service between that airport and a large hub airport, to use such slots also to provide nonstop air transportation service between Reagan National Airport and another airport more than 1,250 statute miles away (perimeter rule limit). Latest action (2008-03-13): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Why this matters
Reagan National’s perimeter rule is one of the few federal statutes that directly limits where U.S. airlines can fly nonstop from a specific airport, and each proposed carve-out reshapes which cities get one-stop vs. nonstop access to Washington. Tracking introduced-but-unenacted exceptions like this 2008 bill shows the long pattern of incremental pressure on the rule, even when individual bills fail.