Districts with a direct flight to DCA

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I was bored and procrastinating so I made this map of congressional districts that have a direct flight from an airport in one of their counties to DCA. Its interesting as it shows just how gerrymandered some counties are such as in Texas and Illinois, in texas only three aiports have direct flights (Austin, Houston, Dallas Fort Woth) but around half of districts are in one of those counties. Utah are Arizona have only one flight each but all or nearly all of their districts go into SLC or Maricopa leading to the entire state being "covered". I didn't include seasonal flights.


https://i.imgur.com/caYeKw5.png

I was surprised there's only two direct flights from California to DCA and none in Idaho, Montana or Kansas. South Carolina having twice as many direct flight then California is very strange.

[Хahar 🤔]

In general there are very few long-distance flights to National Airport. The rules restricting flights to National are designed to funnel long-distance traffic to Dulles, which would otherwise be uncompetitive due to its distance from the city.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

In general there are very few long-distance flights to National Airport. The rules restricting flights to National are designed to funnel long-distance traffic to Dulles, which would otherwise be uncompetitive due to its distance from the city.

Yea that’s pretty plain on this map, almost every state with an airport east of the Mississippi has atleast 2 flights

[AustralianSwingVoter]

The DCA perimeter was originally set at 650 miles in 1966 upon the opening of the new Dulles airport. It was expanded to 1,000 miles, then 1,250 miles in 1987 mostly due to the Texan Speaker of the House Jim Wright, to conveniently include Dallas and Houston. (He would also give his name to the Wright Amendment that controlled flights from Dallas Love Field until 2014).
Beyond Perimeter slots were introduced in a 2000 amendment by John McCain, as a compromise after he proposed total repeal. *Conveniently* 6 of the 12 new daily slots were granted to his hometown airline American West (2 to Phoenix, 1 to Las Vegas). Another 12 were created in 2003, and 16 further created in 2012. Their current allocation is as follows:
(note: a slot is an individual takeoff or landing. It must be operated as a slot pair to a destination)
Alaska (10)
2x Seattle/Tacoma
1x Los Angeles
1x Portland (OR)
1x San Francisco

American (12)
2x Los Angeles
3x Phoenix
1x Las Vegas

Delta (4)
1x Salt Lake City
1x Los Angeles

Frontier (6)
3x Denver

JetBlue (2)
1x San Juan

Southwest (2)
1x Austin

United (4)
1x Denver
1x San Francisco

Additionally, all other routes within perimeter are slot limited and owned by airlines, though with operational freedom. The current operational slot totals for Summer 22 weekdays are:
(Mainline means aircraft with >76 seats, Commuter means aircraft with <76 seats)

American
357 mainline
146 commuter
503 total

Air Canada
1 mainline
15 commuter
16 total

Alaska
10 mainline
10 total

Delta
94 mainline
20 commuter
114 total

Frontier
6 mainline
6 total

JetBlue
60 mainline
60 total

Republic Airlines***
2 mainline
4 regional
6 total

Southwest
90 mainline
90 total

United
76 mainline
76 total

***you’ve probably never heard of Republic Airlines. They operate commuter aircraft for all 3 major carriers. Their 6 DCA slots came from their 2009 purchase of near bankrupt Midwest Airlines, based in Milwaukee. The slots should’ve gone to Frontier but political meddling through the DOJ prevented it. Instead the 6 slots are still operated by Republic dba Delta Connection, to Lexington, Omaha and Madison. Two state capitals and the largest city in Nebraska, you can imagine the degree of political interference to protect these flights.

an identical slot mechanism is operated by the FAA at New York City’s LaGuardia and JFK, both similarly overcrowded and operationally restricted. Furthermore the FAA operates a limited schedule approval process at Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, NYC Newark and San Francisco as all airports are presently at capacity. SFO will likely have a full slot regime implemented in the next decade as demand continues to grow.

[Del Tachi]

No direct service to HSV?

[It’s so Joever]

In general there are very few long-distance flights to National Airport. The rules restricting flights to National are designed to funnel long-distance traffic to Dulles, which would otherwise be uncompetitive due to its distance from the city.

It’s only going to get worse for DCA now that Dulles is metro connected (even if the Silver line is slow)

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

No direct service to HSV?

Ah darn there is, I’ll update the map when I get the chance

[Хahar 🤔]

In general there are very few long-distance flights to National Airport. The rules restricting flights to National are designed to funnel long-distance traffic to Dulles, which would otherwise be uncompetitive due to its distance from the city.

It’s only going to get worse for DCA now that Dulles is metro connected (even if the Silver line is slow)

If this were to have an impact, it would make the situation better, since the reason for these restrictions is demand at National exceeding supply and making Dulles more attractive would reduce that demand. In practice I don't think it'll make a difference, since even with Metro access Dulles is so much less convenient to nearly everywhere than National is.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

No direct service to HSV?

Damn I was going to point that out. I literally work at the airport here.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Another thing I realized is that GSP is on the line between Greenville and Spartanburg County, so SC-05 also has a direct flight.

[Del Tachi]

I also think you missed New Bern (NC), Melbourne (FL), Daytona Beach, Traverse City, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard

www.flightconnections.com

[All Along The Watchtower]

The rules restricting flights to National are designed to funnel long-distance traffic to Dulles, which would otherwise be uncompetitive due to its distance from the city.

This article says that this is kind of a myth and that the introduction of the DCA perimeter rule in 1966 had more to do with alleviating a rapid increase in congestion in the wake of the FAA allowing jet aircraft at the airport earlier that year. Previously, only propeller planes were allowed at Washington National.

It is worth noting that had the FAA, or Congress, wanted to promote Dulles they could have mandated airlines fly to the airport. At the time, all interstate air routes were regulated, giving the government the authority to force airlines to move flights to Dulles from National.

Instead, as McKee noted in a letter to then-Senator Peter Dominick from Colorado in May 1966, the perimeter simply ensured that all "international and long-haul domestic services" operated from Dulles and Baltimore's Friendship, now Baltimore/Washington (BWI), airports -- and not from National.

Now, as for why they keep these restrictions, yes, maintaining Dulles's dominance obviously plays a big role. I suspect there might be security reasons too though, particularly regarding flights coming from overseas, given National's proximity to DC and to the Pentagon. I wonder how much of a hassle foreign airlines would encounter if more of them were theoretically allowed to fly to National (Wikipedia says that the only one with a presence there is Air Canada Express, which as the name indicates is a regional feeder service for Air Canada).

[AustralianSwingVoter]

The rules restricting flights to National are designed to funnel long-distance traffic to Dulles, which would otherwise be uncompetitive due to its distance from the city.

This article says that this is kind of a myth and that the introduction of the DCA perimeter rule in 1966 had more to do with alleviating a rapid increase in congestion in the wake of the FAA allowing jet aircraft at the airport earlier that year. Previously, only propeller planes were allowed at Washington National.

It is worth noting that had the FAA, or Congress, wanted to promote Dulles they could have mandated airlines fly to the airport. At the time, all interstate air routes were regulated, giving the government the authority to force airlines to move flights to Dulles from National.

Instead, as McKee noted in a letter to then-Senator Peter Dominick from Colorado in May 1966, the perimeter simply ensured that all "international and long-haul domestic services" operated from Dulles and Baltimore's Friendship, now Baltimore/Washington (BWI), airports -- and not from National.

Now, as for why they keep these restrictions, yes, maintaining Dulles's dominance obviously plays a big role. I suspect there might be security reasons too though, particularly regarding flights coming from overseas, given National's proximity to DC and to the Pentagon. I wonder how much of a hassle foreign airlines would encounter if more of them were theoretically allowed to fly to National (Wikipedia says that the only one with a presence there is Air Canada Express, which as the name indicates is a regional feeder service for Air Canada).

Yes, it's inaccurate to say the Perimeter rule was to funnel long-distance traffic, as large jets simply couldn't fit into the airport in the first place! You weren't landing a transatlantic jet of the era on the Potomac Postage Stamp. Rather it was to restrict short-haul growth at an airport the government had no intention of ever expanding.

The slot restrictions are maintained for the same reason they are at LaGuardia and JFK. The airport's runway is at full capacity and the field simply can't fit any more flights without building a new runway in the middle of the Potomac, and repealing most of DC's no fly zone.

Meanwhile the perimeter rule is maintained because it protects direct services to smaller east coast and midwest cities (whose congressmen and senators find rather convenient!) which would otherwise be replaced by a bevy of flights to SoCal and the Bay Area. Additionally all local VA/MD congressmen and senators oppose loosening the restrictions as it would severely harm Dulles Airport. Since 2000, domestic commercial passenger traffic at Reagan National has grown 50 percent while at Dulles International it has declined by 9 percent, which has undermined the finances of Dulles airport.

National airport is only technically international, as it doesn't have any customs or border facilities. Thus it can only handle traffic from airports with CBP preclearance facilities (namely Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Aruba, Bermuda, Nassau, Dublin and Shannon).

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I also think you missed New Bern (NC), Melbourne (FL), Daytona Beach, Traverse City, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard

www.flightconnections.com

According to Wikipedia those are all seasonal flights, which I did not include, just regular scheduled flights as the idea was, if at any given time a congressman should need to get to DC, there’s an direct flight to get them there.

[Bismarck]

For Indiana 5 and 7 are we counting the Indianapolis International Airport for both? I guess it does stick down a bit into the fifth district. It also is within a few hundred yards of the fourth district.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

For Indiana 5 and 7 are we counting the Indianapolis International Airport for both? I guess it does stick down a bit into the fifth district. It also is within a few hundred yards of the fourth district.

I’m not sure what you mean about the 5th, but the 6th is colored at it goes into Marion County, where the airport is. I just used whether or not a congressional district went into the county where the airport is, not if it’s physically in the district or not. The reason for this is it’s expected to drive a little to get to an airport, but out west this metrics does kind of become shaken. I might make a revised version that takes into account distance rather then county.

[Bismarck]

For Indiana 5 and 7 are we counting the Indianapolis International Airport for both? I guess it does stick down a bit into the fifth district. It also is within a few hundred yards of the fourth district.

I’m not sure what you mean about the 5th, but the 6th is colored at it goes into Marion County, where the airport is. I just used whether or not a congressional district went into the county where the airport is, not if it’s physically in the district or not. The reason for this is it’s expected to drive a little to get to an airport, but out west this metrics does kind of become shaken. I might make a revised version that takes into account distance rather then county.

Oh I made a mistake I meant the sixth. The Indianapolis international airport actually does basically sit where the fourth, sixth, and seventh come together at the border of Wayne and a Decatur townships in Marion County and Guilford township in Hendricks County