Originally Posted by
stimpy
While I agree it is disingenuous to tell people in the District to just drive out to IAD, as someone who has a base close to IAD I have to say it is a very easy airport. From leaving Reston I am past security and heading to the gate in less than 20 minutes
Glad you enjoy it. Please get the message out to your friends/colleagues about how great IAD is. DCA passed IAD in passenger traffic in 2015 so apparently people aren't getting the message.
Originally Posted by
Section 107
It didn't serve any purpose but to protect IAD when it was created; that's why it was created.
Yup. Guess it made sense back in 1966.
Originally Posted by
Section 107
It continues to drive pax to IAD and is why it will stay. Enplanements are growing very well at DCA and not growing well at IAD; removing the rule will result in less pax at IAD which means the cost of flying out of IAD will increase, decreasing the number of pax, increasing cost, etc., etc.
So..."Dulles sucks...PLEASE help us with artificial government restrictions!"...? You ignore the fact that people prefer to fly out of DCA and want long-haul flights to the west coast.
Originally Posted by
Section 107
It doesn't "protect" any congress critter's district even though it does make it easier for (some) critters to slither back and forth from whence they came.
Not sure what you mean here. Hang out at 35X for awhile and tell me how many of those aren't congressionally influenced.
Originally Posted by
Section 107
In addition, allowing longer flights would result in many more flights using larger (73x, 319, 320) aircraft that are significantly louder than the regional jets/turbo-props. This will make the locals (who knowingly purchased/rented homes next to an airport or in the flight path) even more upset about the noise.
This is a long standing myth. DCA is slot controlled and you can't swap a commuter slot for a mainline slot. So if the Perimeter Rule was abolished it would result in swapping a within-perimeter jet slot (say to/from DFW, BOS, CLT, ORD, etc.) for a similar slot beyond the perimeter (say to/from DEN, SLC, SEA, SFO, LAX, etc.) with no increase in mainline jet traffic. No one would notice the difference. (Trust me, I would be the first one to complain living under the south departure corridor).
Originally Posted by
Section 107
Sure there are things that could make IAD more convenient, but it really isn't that bad.
Glad you like it, please convince more of your friends/neighbors to do the same. DCA is starting to get a little crowded.
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The only valid justification for the Perimeter Rule is protecting United's domestic feeder traffic and what it would mean to international non-stop destinations and the impact to the DC region if they pulled out of IAD. I get that, but damn I'd like to be able go SAN-DCA nonstop again
