Virginia senators propose bill to cut DCA traffic

Two Virginia senators have introduced a bill to scale back traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the interest of safety. The DCA Air Safety Act, announced Thursday by Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, would cap hourly arrivals, space out takeoffs and landings, and eliminate 30 slots over five years.

The FAA would have to reduce the airport arrival rate to no more than 28 aircraft per consecutive 60-minute period and set binding interval caps to reduce clustering. It would also determine which six slots to cut each year between 2028 and 2032.

The bill would require regular reports to Congress on traffic and safety at the airport. Both senators cited the midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter near Reagan National last year, which killed 67 people, as motivation. In a statement, Kaine said Congress must do more to prevent future tragedies and that reforms failing to address overcrowding at an airport already operating beyond capacity would be dangerously insufficient.