Posts about National Airport
Air
Southwest might not have as big an impact as you hope
On Monday morning Southwest Airlines announced its intent to acquire AirTran Airways. The deal won't be approved for some time, but when it is, the new combined company will likely impact air travel in Greater Washington.
From Paul Nicholson on Flickr.
The big question is when Washingtonians will finally be able to catch a Southwest flight out of National Airport, and whether a Southwest presence will bring down historically high fares at DCA.
Southwest's biggest presence in the region is at Baltimore-Washington International, where the airline currently occupies 20 gates with 43 non-stop routes and 172 daily departures. Measured by number of departures, BWI is the 4th busiest in the Southwest system.
On the other side of town, since 2006 Southwest has operated what the company refers to as a "boutique operation" out of Dulles International. Today they occupy 2 gates with 2 non-stop routes and 8 daily departures.
What might Southwest service out of National look like?
AirTran currently has 2 gates in Terminal A with 4 non-stop routes and about a dozen daily departures. Even if Southwest maintained that level of service, it would only be a fraction of the business they do out of BWI. Southwest would likely select a few strategic city-pairs for service out of DCA, so many Washingtonians hoping for an inexpensive one-seat flight home to wherever they're from will probably be out of luck.
More interesting is what might happen up in Maryland. BWI is both a top market for Southwest and a secondary hub for AirTran.
While the two airlines directly compete on only about a half-dozen routes, there's legitimate fear that eliminating that competition could push fares higher. In a rare twist of events, expanded Southwest service could have the opposite effect that it historically has had. Only time will tell if Southwest's revenue management team thinks they can successfully pull off higher fares.
At the end of the day, Southwest's acquisition of AirTran might not have as big an impact on air travel in Washington as many are hoping. And while Southwest's arrival at DCA will be welcome by many travelers, it will hardly be a sizable operation.
Air
Senators threaten MWAA over DCA flight restrictions
Last year, members of the United States Senate were threatening to take over Metro if they didn't get what they wanted. Now, they're making those threats against the local airport authority, because it isn't acceding to western senators' demands to allow longer distance flights at National Airport.
Photo by Scorpions and Centaurs on Flickr.
WTOP reports that Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) are calling for hearings into the the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), its governance and finances after officials defended the rules limiting long-distance flights.
MWAA officials said adding flights at Dulles National and replacing other short-range flights with flights to the west will reduce traffic at Dulles and impact revenue expected from the Silver Line. They also argued that the airport's parking, security screening and baggage handling couldn't handle the additional demand.
Local senators, led by Mark Warner (D-VA) have been protecting the rule, which is popular in Arlington because it limits noise from aircraft. Last time we had this debate, though, commenters pointed out that relaxing the rule would lead to more midday flights, not night flights (since National's slot limitations only apply during the day), and that larger planes aren't as loud as they once were.
Virginia and Maryland's senators also are mostly protecting Dulles and BWI, wanting to drive as much traffic there. Each airport is more convenient to more of their constituents but less convenient to DC. More remote airports also drive sprawl, creating incentives for large office parks to locate near the airport but very distant from the rest of the region.
Meanwhile, unless the plan has changed, it would replace some amount of micromanaging at National with other micromanaging by different senators. For example, Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) included tried to include a provision requiring four small carriers to fly to West Texas, likely not the area with the highest travel demand to and from DC.
It's be great if hearings into MWAA looked into another important issue: Why MWAA is less transparent and accountable to local residents than other governing bodies. When MWAA decided to take away funding for Fairfax Connector buses along the Dulles Toll Road and prioritize freeway construction, there was little accountability. Unfortunately, when these senators talk about accountability, they naturally just mean accountability to them.
What do you think?
Update: Joe Brenckle from the Republican side of the Commerce Committee explained some details of the current proposal. It does not include Senator Hutchison's suggested amendment requiring some flights to West Texas. It would add 5 flights to go to "new entrant or limited incumbent air carriers" which could go outside the perimeter, and allow up to 16 existing flights to be changed to ones beyond the perimeter.
@ggwash
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