{"id":2233962,"date":"2024-04-30T18:09:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/buttiegieg-expresses-safety-concerns-over-adding-five-new-long-haul-flights-at-reagan-airport\/"},"modified":"2024-04-30T18:13:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T22:13:57","slug":"buttiegieg-expresses-safety-concerns-over-adding-five-new-long-haul-flights-at-reagan-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/buttiegieg-expresses-safety-concerns-over-adding-five-new-long-haul-flights-at-reagan-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttigieg Raises Safety Concerns About Adding 5 New Long-Haul Flights to Reagan Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbuttiegieg-expresses-safety-concerns-over-adding-five-new-long-haul-flights-at-reagan-airport%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2233962&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressed \u2062concerns at a House Appropriation \u2064Committee hearing over\u200c the addition of five\u200b new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/major-british-newspaper-advocates-bringing-back-rationing-to-fight-global-warming\/\" title=\"Major British Newspaper Advocates Bringing Back Rationing to Fight Global Warming\">long-haul flights<\/a> at Reagan \u2062National Airport. He emphasized potential system strain from \u2063the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-messaging-shifts-on-covid\/\" title=\"Federal Messaging Shifts On COVID\">extra flights<\/a> amid negotiations on a bill extending the Federal Aviation Administration&#8217;s authority. Local lawmakers oppose the move, citing safety and operational issues at the airport.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Transportation Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pete-buttigieg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Pete Buttiegieg\">Pete Buttigieg<\/a> reflected on the impact of adding five new long-haul flights at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flyreagan.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ronald Reagan National Airport<\/a> during a <a href=\"https:\/\/appropriations.house.gov\/events\/hearings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"House Appropriation Committee\">House Appropriation Committee<\/a> hearing, emphasizing there is concern about how the added flights could put \u201cpressure\u201d on the system on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would be concerned about the pressure that could put on the system,\u201d Buttigieg said in response to a question from Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA), who asked about the Biden administration\u2019s position on adding the extra flights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, we stand ready to make good on whatever Congress provides,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg\u2019s comment comes after key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Senate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/section\/news\/house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>House<\/a> negotiators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/2983034\/lawmakers-strike-deal-long-awaited-faa-reauthorization-deadline-looms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"unveiled\">unveiled<\/a> a long-awaited bill early Monday morning to reauthorize the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/faa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Federal Aviation Administration<\/a> for the next five years. <\/p>\n<p>The bill included a provision that allows Reagan to have five more slots beyond the airport\u2019s perimeter rule, which currently limits the number of long-haul flights that travel more than 1,250 miles from Washington, D.C. Both Reagan and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flydulles.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Dulles International Airport <\/a>are owned by the federal government, which means Congress can decide how they operate.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the local congressional delegation have come out against the additional flights. In a statement released on Monday, Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) vowed to \u201ccontinue to fight against this ridiculous and dangerous provision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The delegation argues the airport is already strained by traffic and noise disruption and points to an internal FAA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/649895317\/2023-05-25-DCA-Air-Service-Analysis-Memo\">memo<\/a> that found 20 more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washington-area-senators-warn-dca-perimeter-dispute-risks-delaying-faa-reauthorization-bill\/\" title=\"DC-area senators caution that the DCA perimeter dispute may cause delays in passing the FAA reauthorization bill.\">daily round-trip operations<\/a> would increase delays by 25.9% and that an increase of 25 daily round-trip operations would increase delays by 33.2% at Reagan. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s already the tenth most-delayed airport in the country. It would have a negative impact on safety at the airport; just a few weeks ago, there was a near collision between two commercial flights on a runway,\u201d Cline said during the hearing on Tuesday, highlighting a near-collision between a Southwest Airlines flight and a JetBlue flight at Reagan in mid-April.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Buttigieg acknowledged how busy the runway can be at the airport, which is the closest geographically to the Capitol and averages 819 overall daily commercial takeoffs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe certainly recognize and respect the role of Congress in determining the availability of slots. I would note, having spent time up in that tower at [Reagan], that it really is an exceptionally, as you note, not only an exceptionally busy airstrip in terms of that one runway, the hardest working runway in the national airspace,\u201d Buttigieg said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In addition to the Maryland and Virginia senators, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchin.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/manchin-statement-opposing-faa-reauthorization-act-provision-to-add-five-new-roundtrip-flights-at-dca\">came out against<\/a> adding the five new round trip flights at Reagan, claiming that it would \u201cjeopardize passenger safety and increase delays and cancellation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Reagan\u2019s] role in the Washington area\u2019s airport system allows it to serve regional airports with shorter flights and smaller aircraft, and it is unacceptable that we would sacrifice this already strained connectivity for the added convenience of some lawmakers who live across the country,\u201d Manchin said in a statement, urging a vote on an amendment to strip the provision out of the FAA bill. <\/p>\n<p>Extending the flight perimeter has been done in the past. In 1981, Congress extended the flight perimeter to 1,000 miles from the original 650 miles. In 1986, it was extended to the current 1,250 miles. Lawmakers have also made exemptions for a small number of flights to cities such as Austin, Seattle, Denver, and Phoenix.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitalaccessalliance.com\/\">Capital Access Alliance<\/a>, a coalition of business groups that has been advocating the addition of more slots to the airport, initially had been pushing for 28 slots but saw the legislation as a win. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis bipartisan compromise represents a win for air travelers who suffer from some of the highest domestic ticket prices in the country because of an outdated federal regulation that has stifled competition in the national capital region for nearly six decades,\u201d said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the group in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>While Walsh is cautiously optimistic about the potential of adding the new slots, he is bracing for another fight.\u201cI think we\u2019re all expecting [Warner and Kaine] to have an amendment to try to strip it out. But so it\u2019s not over from our perspective,\u201d Walsh said in an interview with the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>on Monday. \u201cBut obviously very good news, that it\u2019s in the final bill negotiated with the House.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg discussed the potential effects of introducing five new long-haul flights at Reagan National Airport in a House Appropriations Committee hearing. He highlighted concerns about the additional flights potentially straining the system<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2657,"featured_media":2233963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24121714858749-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2233962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24121714858749-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2233962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2233963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2233962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2233962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2233962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}