Let locals run D.C. airport
One of my last actions as Virginia governor more than 25 years ago was supporting the charge to add Ronald Reagan to the official name of Washington National Airport. I did so for one salient, historical, principled reason: I wanted people to remember every time they used the airport that President Ronald Reagan had been a champion for state and local prerogatives rather than intrusive federal overreach.
Indeed, in 1987, the Reagan administration finally and wisely transferred federal control of Dulles International and National airports to the new Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. This salutary transfer of management to a regional board with members from Virginia, Maryland and D.C. has proved beneficial, especially with the use of construction bonds to finance improvements at National Airport.
If the federal government bureaucracies had remained in control, it is doubtful that the architecturally beautiful terminal at National would have been constructed in the 1990s. This appropriate use of airport revenue by a local entity to finance improvements is normal for airport operations throughout our country.
Yet, somehow the airport continues to fight off persistent intrusions by some members of Congress who forget what Reagan taught us as they try to micromanage the airport by adding flights and changing what’s known as the perimeter rule.
National and Dulles airports operate in tandem as a single entity to provide holistic service to passengers from around the world who are traveling to and through the D.C. metro area. Carefully crafted federal law stipulates that Reagan National operate with strict rules limiting the number of flights (slots, in airport lingo) and the distance that nonstop flights can travel (currently 1,250 miles — the perimeter rule), with few exceptions.
These rules were designed by Congress and public servants for these two airports to support economic development and regional access to Washington while easing airport congestion and promoting safety. They also acknowledge a very basic fact about National: squeezed between the Potomac River and Arlington, the airport is constrained by geography. Without these rules, the airport would have even worse noise, congestion and delays.
Changes in the slot and perimeter rules would have a deleterious effect on the jobs and economic development generated by our local airports and the regional airports that connect them to other destinations. A real consequence could be fewer flights to Knoxville, Tenn.; Norfolk; Charleston, S.C.; Charleston, W.Va.; and other places within 1,250 miles to make room for cross-country flights to the Pacific time zone.
In my 20 years serving Virginians as governor, in the Senate and the House, and as a delegate, I worked to protect the autonomy of the airport authority. I feel strongly that local authorities should, whenever possible, exercise local control, especially when dealing with operational matters that would have a significant effect on the community. Further, federal law expressly delegates operational control of both airports to the authority, which has the local knowledge and aviation industry expertise to run two major airports.
The airport authority does not support these latest proposed changes, and neither do I.
The reason for supporting local control over federal overreach, particularly when operating airports, is simple: Local airport authorities have the best understanding of the needs of their communities and economies. They are closer to the people, and they have the expertise to make the right decisions far from the politics of Washington meddlers.
Virginia lawmakers, including me, advocated for investments in and around Dulles, the significantly larger airport, which is designed to accommodate more passengers, more cars and more traffic as well as freight/cargo and larger planes equipped for longer-haul domestic and international flights. Billions of dollars in local, state and federal funds and commercial zoning policies have supported economic growth in Northern Virginia, resulting in thousands of jobs at airlines, vendors and corporate headquarters, all benefiting residents who live in the region. The new Silver Line extension makes travel to and from Dulles easier than ever. Dulles and National airports are key assets for the entire area and beyond.
Though these basic facts haven’t changed in the past few decades, federal legislators disappointingly continue to suspiciously prioritize schedules that would benefit them over sound policy and local control by experts of our nation’s airports.
Any intervention by Congress in local airport management is an overstep. As a senator 20 years ago, I threatened a filibuster and stopped efforts by my Republican colleagues who were pushing for additional slots at National. I feel as strongly today about the issue as I did then, when I told them that they had no business intruding into our airports’ operations — nor theirs in Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dallas or anywhere else.
I sincerely hope that my friends in Congress, whether they fly home from Reagan National or Dulles International, will remember what Reagan taught us about trusting local control and the wisdom of our local authorities. I urge them to let us run our own affairs, leaving the slot and perimeter rules intact.
George Allen, a Republican, was governor of Virginia from 1994 to 1998, a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2007, a member of the House from 1991 to 1993 and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1983 to 1991. He is a Reagan Ranch presidential scholar for the Young America’s Foundation.