‘The Airport Said Don't Do It. And They Did It.’
Story by Juan Benn Jr • 19h
It’s no secret in Washington — in the halls of Congress and various agencies that call the city home — that D.C.’s airspace is “incredibly congested.”
That’s what former House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio said after a U.S. Army helicopter collided with a PSA Airlines passenger plane on Wednesday, killing all 67 passengers and crew members on board the two aircraft.
For years, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority warned Congress that the region’s airports were at capacity, DeFazio said in an interview with POLITICO Magazine. But their pleas for restraint fell short among lawmakers, who voted to add more flights to an airport already struggling with its heavy load and a shortage of air traffic controllers caused by previous government shutdowns and pandemic-era hits to its workforce.
“Every senator in particular wants a nonstop flight to and from wherever they live,” said DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat. He noted that a reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration passed last year added even more flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “The airport said, ‘Don't do it.’ And they did it. So they added to what DCA said is already an overly congested and over-capacity airport.”
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