OPINION: Proposed airport rule change would impede Alaskans’ access to Washington, D.C.

As a lifelong Alaskan, I know the joys that come with calling this state home, as well as the challenges. There are the long summer evenings — but that comes with long winter nights. There is our deep culture of hunting and fishing — but there are also high prices at the grocery store. There’s the beauty in our remoteness, setting apart from the Lower 48 — but that leaves us heavily reliant on airports like Seattle to connect us with the rest of the country and world.

With that in mind, I’m adding my voice to the opposition to proposed changes to the existing high-density slot and perimeter rules at Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C., which has the potential to detrimentally affect Alaskans’ ability to access our capital in Washington, D.C., via Seattle and other common connection points.

As many Alaskans are aware, Alaska is connected to Washington, D.C., through direct flights on the West Coast of the Lower 48, largely Seattle, to Washington National Airport (DCA) and Dulles International Airport (IAD). These flights rely on DCA’s slot and perimeter rules, which limit nonstop flights to and from the airport to 1,250 miles. Congress designed these rules when it created the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to oversee capital-area air travel in 1986.

Congress carefully designed the slot and perimeter rules for the benefit of the whole country, ensuring public access to the nation’s capital as well as supporting economic development, regional access, and easing airport congestion. Any proposed changes will not improve airline safety, promote economic development, or increase access to the Washington, D.C., region — in fact, they will do the opposite. As someone living in a state situated far beyond the statutory 1,250-mile perimeter, I am concerned by the potential impacts these changes could have on Alaskans’ abilities to access Washington, D.C., and beyond — for civic action, tourism, business opportunities, and other purposes.

Instead of attempting to change these rules and disrupting the balance of the current system in the process, I encourage airlines to use the exemptions that already exist to service destinations beyond the perimeter, which the existing rules clearly allow for. MWAA has made it clear that DCA is at capacity, servicing millions more passengers today than it was originally intended to, and changes to these rules will disrupt the delicate balance of operations that air travel into the Washington, D.C., area requires. This could cause far-reaching consequences and ripple effects, ultimately impeding Americans’ access to their nation’s capital and the decisions that are made there.

I spent more than 16 years serving in Alaska’s state capital as a state legislator, and I saw firsthand the importance of public access to the place where laws are made. The same applies to our national capital and the laws that are made there that impact all of us, no matter how far outside the 1,250 miles perimeter we happen to live. Alaskans — and all Americans — are best served by a strong national network of local, regional and international airports that can meet the needs of individual communities. Any changes to DCA’s slot and perimeter rules jeopardize the national network and should not be enacted.

Lesil McGuire is a lifelong Alaskan, women’s and rural rights advocate, and mother. She served six years in the Alaska House of Representatives (2001-2007) and 10 years in the Alaska Senate (2007-2017). She lives in Anchorage and works as a consultant in the aerospace, technological innovation and Arctic policy sectors.

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