April 7, 2004 -- Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport is one of only four airports in the country where flights are restricted by federal law.
Airlines must go through a drawn-out, bureaucratic process to get new flights into National. But it's worth the trouble, because National is so much more convenient to DC than either Dulles or BWI airports. National is plumbed directly into the city's Metro system, and you can get to downtown in minutes -- Dulles is way out in the sprawl of Northern Virginia, and BWI is up by Baltimore.
(The other three controlled airports, by the way, are New York's Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, which have had congestion problems in the past, and Dallas' Love Field, where long-distance flights are restricted because of a sweetheart law written to protect American Airlines' business at Dallas-Fort Worth. Chicago's O'Hare airport used to be restricted, but the restrictions were phased out in 2002.)
The government just handed out a bunch of new "slots" for flights into National, and if you're flying into DC you should be aware of your new options. They include:
- Alaska will offer the only nonstop from LA to National, starting June 7.
- Both United and Frontier will soon fly from Denver straight into National.
- Delta's Comair subsidiary will start flights from Lexington, Ky. on June 15.
- US Airways will fly from Chattanooga, TN straight into National soon.
Also, existing service to National from Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle and Kansas City has been ramped up.
Only one of these new flights has a great sale fare -- Alaska's $178 roundtrip between LA and National, good for flights between June 7 and June 30. Buy it online at www.alaskaair.com.
Meanwhile, over at Dulles, a new airline is brewing. Independence Air (www.flyi.com/html/announcement10.html), formerly Atlantic Coast Airlines, promises 300 low-fare flights per day by the end of the summer. They'll offer all-leather seats on all 100 of their planes, and put seatback TVs in at least 25 planes. They'll fly to destinations in the eastern and Midwestern US, and possibly Canada.
Sound mysterious? It's mysterious to us, too, and Independence is playing their cards pretty close to their chest. They promise a big announcement sometime in May, and we'll be there for you when it happens.
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