slawecki

part of the current discussion involves swapping out the 50 passenger planes with 100's, or maybe even the 737 maxxie, which will seat 215.(maybe for VI, PR, and bermuda). auto traffic is not a big problem, but the last i heard, only 43 slots per hour, and all are filled.

maybe someone will start flying lhr, after a us customs station is installed.would leave at 1am, and arrive london at around 1300 or 1400.

there are plenty of slots from 1am to 6am. maybe someone will start filling those.

You want to go where?

I hope not. I have enough planes flying over as it is.

BearX220

I had an apartment in Alexandria two or three miles south of the threshold of runway 15. The jet noise started at 7:00:00. I used to tell people I had a Pratt & Whitney alarm clock.

flyer703

We all know what the problem is - Dulles sucks. Unless you live in Herndon or are flying internationally or on a transcon that is artificially-restricted at DCA, you aren't going to want to use it.

MWAA should not be lobbying for continued artificial restrictions to DCA operations - they should be working to vastly improve the Dulles experience so paying customers actually choose to use the airport!

IAD is not slot-controlled. Only DCA is. You have to buy slots - either from another carrier or new ones that Congress authorizes, with DOT approval - to operate out of DCA. So what you want is basically already in place today. Perhaps what you're advocating is higher landing fees?

My understanding is that the DCA expansion won't result in any additional gate capacity. It will simply link all 3 piers in the B/C terminal inside security and will replace gate 35X and the shuttle buses with a new commuter terminal serving the same number of RJs that operate out of the Commuter World ramp today. These are very welcome improvements but I do not believe they will result in additional operational capacity.

I agree with you that DCA operations are manipulated via regulation - via slot controls (not much can be done about that) and the Perimeter Rule (which should have been repealed years ago).

I don't think that low cost carriers like Southwest and Jetblue (who recently acquired the DOT-forced AA/US slot divestiture) - or the DOT for that matter - would be too happy with any additional artificial costs to operate out of DCA just to make IAD look more attractive. Again, how 'bout MWAA focus on improving the Dulles experience rather than sticking it to airlines and paying customers who use National?

You don't have PreCheck?? It has never taken me more than 2 minutes to clear security and walk to my gate with PreCheck. Can't quite say the same about Dulles...

BearX220

The way I read it, there will be a new commuter concourse built where office space currently stands, north of Concourse C. I don't think that means more capacity, more slots, etc. as gates and runways are two different things, but it does make the whole B / C complex more usable and attractive.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...uction-at-dca/

Absolutely right. More carrots, fewer sticks. Pretty pathetic when the best they can do for Dulles is to make DCA worse.

You want to go where?

Agreed, although the one thing they cannot do is move IAD closer to DC. So, it makes sense that on that alone that there will be greater demand for, say a WAS-DEN flight from DCA than IAD.

Sorry, the idea of auctioning slots at IAD was a rhetorical device, not a serious suggestion, because there isn't enough demand at IAD to justify auctioning, hence the lack of slot controls. What I am advocating is that slots at DCA be auctioned annually, not just once, so that the airport is really reaping the benefit of its prime real estate, rather than the carriers who managed to get a slot in the 1950s. And yes, higher landing fees would be appropriate as well. If DCA was in private hands, the airport would have been closed and the area converted to office blocks and residential towers advertising spectacular views of Washington.


The perimeter rule likely springs from a couple of different sources - a) the thought that if you are already flying 5 hours to SFO, an extra half hour to get to Dulles is just a 10% increase of total travel time versus almost a 100% increase if you are flying to LGA and; b) the perception that long-haul planes are louder and more disruptive to the congested area around the airport. While a) still holds, b) is no longer true.

I really don't care what Southwest and Jetblue think, or even what the customers think. If you want to land on expensive real estate you should pay for it. DCA's terminals could be a complete disaster and people would still go there for the convenience. Before they built the current Terminal B/C, people still went to National because of its convenience. I agree that MWAA should focus on improving the Dulles experience. I am just trying to find a way to fund that. If you can't fund it from dwindling IAD flights, then fund it from DCA.

I don't have PreCheck, partially because I object to paying the government for a something which saves them money, and partially because I tend to take longer trips outside the US where PreCheck adds no value. My objection isn't the wait at DCA, it is the security design which makes it a pain to get through the process.

BearX220

You would be well-suited to running United Airlines.

You want to go where?

Do you think any business owner is really worried whether someone thinks a product is expensive? What they worry about is if they price something at a point where the customer is no longer willing to pay for it. Otherwise, businesses would just give everything away at cost. Demand for DCA's services is relatively inelastic. Most people will pay a premium to fly out of DCA. If they are willing to pay it, I see no reason for MWAA not to collect that premium and use it to the benefit of the broader community it serves (and impinges upon). One way to use it is to improve the facilities at Dulles so that people in the Washington area have more good choices rather than less.

flyer703

Where do you get this notion?? Airlines come and go at DCA. Slots frequently change hands. Surely you're familiar with the recent slot turnover from AA/US to WN, B6, and VX. The acquiring carriers had to compete to get these slots and paid a significant cost to get them; to your point about being more expensive to operate out of DCA - it already is!

The only current rational justification (which I understand but do not agree with) is to drive more flights/passengers to IAD. I really hope that the new Congress finally eliminates the PR altogether in next year's FAA re-authorization. This is probably MWAA's worst nightmare, but it would really force them to focus on fixing the systemic problems at IAD.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion, but that is completely opposite from the stated goals of the DOT - who controls who gets the slots. They have pushed for years to get LCCs into DCA to reduce fares - and they have largely succeeded.

BearX220

Great point. The best impetus for change at IAD would be not more artificial shackles on DCA, but the removal of what shackles there are. Level the playing field.

slawecki

BearX220

Perimeter Rule. Limits the distance one can fly nonstop from DCA except for a coveted few exceptions.

You want to go where?

Good. If demand is still so high with these higher prices, then there certainly is no need to further invest in DCA. Invest in the airport which needs the help - IAD. Why invest in an airport which cannot grow? Why not invest in an airport which has untapped potential?

Noise abatement, national security, and airport efficiency and safety are the only reasons to have restrictions at DCA. I don't agree with perimeter rules because they seem to have no effect on any of the above. I do agree with limiting the number of flights into DCA, and I think that there are other airports that should do the same. It is ridiculous to allow airlines to schedule so many flights into an airport at the same time that delays are virtually guaranteed (e.g. LGA). There is no need to let DCA follow in those footsetps.

The slots should not be controlled only by the DOT but also by the owners of the airport - the MWAA. If LCCs can pay the higher prices, even while maintaining lower fares, more power to them.

SandBoxJohn

Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, Pictures 01 10 2015

Nothing has begun at the sites of any of the stations, however lanes along the Dulles Access Road are being shifted in area of the Innovation station. Grading has begun in the area of Sulley Road VA-28 and preparations are being made for the construction of the bridge over Horse Pin Run west of Sulley Road. Visible construction continues to be mostly confined to Dulles Airport property.

All of the columns that have come out of the ground south of Rudder Road and along Airfreight Lane are done, there are roughly 5 at the south end just north of Aviation Drive that have not been started.

All but hand full of the columns along Autopilot Drive are done. The columns in the median of Autopilot Drive north of Rudder Road has not come out of the ground yet.

Things have begun north of Materials Road on both the mainline and the yard leads. The mainline columns have come out of the ground to the Dulles Greenway. East and west yard lead columns are mostly rebar cages sticking out of the ground. Construction of the mainline and west yard lead columns in the Dulles Greenway right of way have not begun.

Test track and Commissioning Facility

The contractor is getting close to prepping the roadbed for ties south of Greenbelt Road. The rail that was staged in the south park and ride lot at the Greenbelt station has been moved to various locations along the test track right of way.

Pictures at picasaweb.google.com/cambronj DCMP 10 13 1014.
Pictures at picasaweb.google.com/cambronj Greenbelt Test Track and Commissioning Facility.
This and previous posts in this series can be seen at cambronj.blogspot.com.

DCA writer

Friday night, I let myself think that taking a 981 bus about to depart from IAD would be a better call than waiting 15 minutes for the next Silver Line Express. Wrong, again. The bus ran no faster than scheduled, something the driver assured by waiting 5 minutes or so at the Herndon-Monroe bus station without saying why (on an earlier run, the driver did the unexplained-sit-around-and-wait thing for even longer at Reston Town Center), and so I got to the Wiehle Metro stop just in time to watch the Silver Line pulling away.

So I decided to break down the 981/983 schedule myself to see where the hold-up might be. And the problem seems to be that regardless of the time of day, this bus is timed to take 13 minutes to get from IAD to Herndon-Monroe, then 12 minutes to go from there to the Reston Town Center transit station.

Google Maps, meanwhile, says that first leg only takes seven minutes by car (meanwhile, the WMATA 5A clocks in at 9 to 11 minutes between those points) and the second only six. Only the last leg, from Reston to Wiehle Metro, do the 981 and 983 schedules match up with Google's drive-time estimates.

What about the new 981/983 schedule effective Jan. 24, you ask? It's worse: The total travel time between IAD and the Wiehle Metro will increase from 32 to 34 minutes. Most of that seems to be due to time added between Reston Town Center and Metro.

Look, I've never worked on or run a bus system in my life, so I must be missing some finer points here. But does the scheduling have to be tuned to worst-case traffic all the time?

I won't miss this bus any more than the 5A when Metro gets all the way to IAD, that's for sure.