Comment by gymbeaux
8 months ago
My question would be “why not close down Reagan?” especially now that the DC Metro runs to Dulles. Yes, yes, Congress likes to fly into Reagan. Too bad.
Not only does Reagan have the same design problem as LGA and SFO (built before jetliners, runways too short), it’s incredibly close to restricted airspace. No civilian needs to fly into an airport that close to DC.
The area has enough traffic to support three airports, and all three (DCA/IAD/BWI) carry between 26-27 million passengers a year, each. I don't think you could close one of them without some significant disruption to service.
Travel in/out of IAD from DC can take an hour, which is obviously why people there prefer DCA. And the flights there are all short-haul anyway, so many are the types of flights people are doing on short turnarounds.
They're not all short haul. I can do a direct to DCA from SLC.
There are a handful of exceptions (of which SLC is one), but broadly the airport is legally limited to destinations within a 1250 mile perimeter to keep long haul traffic at IAD/BWI.
Well that settles it then, military aircraft will have to just turn on their ADS-B transponders when within X miles of a commercial/public airport
Reagan is not shut down because Congress wants it to be open.
Immediately after 9-11, lots of people talked seriously about whether to re-open it. Ultimately they did, because Congress wants it.
A compromise could be to close it for arrivals during certain hours, opening up one entire side of airspace (depending on the wind).
The pain could be mitigated somewhat by adding seating areas and more aircraft parking while using larger planes. For instance, fewer flights total, consisting of 737s and a320s and eliminating flights that previously used shorter commuter sized aircraft.
I think Midway (another old airport) is like this in that it’s “Southwest + some private flights”
I don't think IAD has the capacity to absorb the DCA traffic, at least not on a regular basis. Even if you include BWA I have my doubts that you wouldn't have to cut a bunch of flights due to gate or runway limitations.