[WASHINGTON D.C., JULY 6, 2023] – Reagan National Airport [DCA] is at capacity. That doesn’t seem to matter to a Delta-backed group that is recklessly pushing for more flights at DCA despite opposition from aviation experts, the local airport authority, and hundreds of other businesses, airports, and local officials.
As we head toward the Senate Commerce Committee’s markup of the FAA Reauthorization bill, CPARA is fact checking false and misleading claims that are being used to irresponsibly push for more flights at DCA. As the experts have made clear, DCA is at capacity and Delta’s “DCA Delay” bill will bring the airport to a standstill.
FACT CHECK #1: DCA is at capacity and is already home to the busiest commercial runway in the country.
- DCA tops the list of America’s 10 busiest commercial runways, servicing 819 daily scheduled operations. The runner-up, Los Angeles International Airport, services only 781[1] on a runway that is nearly twice as long.
- More flights would put additional pressure on DCA’s over-burdened main runway, as its second, shorter runway typically services small and regional aircraft and is not designed to accommodate larger planes.
DCA is constrained by geography – stuck between the Potomac River, busy neighborhoods, and federal buildings – meaning that there is no room to extend existing runways or build new ones to accommodate the nearly 9,000 passengers per day that Delta wants to add to DCA.
“Delta’s reckless push for more flights at DCA flies in the face of what the experts and the numbers make perfectly clear: DCA is at capacity and cannot accommodate any more flights. DCA’s main runway serves more flights than any other commercial runway in the nation and Delta risks passenger safety by ignoring that fact.” – CPARA
[1] Published Airline Schedules for March 2023 via Cirium Diio Mi on May 30, 2023 and historical public runway utilization data published by each airport.
