Virginia lawmakers’ air safety bill would reduce flights at Reagan National – WTOP News
Virginia’s two U.S. senators have introduced air safety legislation that would scale back the number of flights going in and out of Reagan National Airport.
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The bill proposed by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner — the DCA Safety Act — seeks to prevent future accidents like the Jan. 29, 2025, midair collision over the Potomac River between a regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.
Kaine said he had warned fellow lawmakers several years ago that an air tragedy could occur without legislative action.
“If you force more flights in for the convenience of Congress members, there’s going to be a catastrophe,” Kaine said he told his colleagues when they were discussing legislation involving the Federal Aviation Administration. “And you’re endangering the lives of the 25 million people who use that airport every year.”
Kaine and Warner have been advocating for flight safety for years related to the airport, which has the busiest major runway in the country.
What the legislation would do
The legislation calls for taking several steps to reduce the airport’s crowded airspace. It includes:
- A cap on hourly flight arrivals. The FAA would be required to limit the number of aircraft arrivals to 28 in a 60-minute time frame. The lawmakers believe that will decrease the likelihood of a collision.
- Reduce flight clustering. Require new 30-minute caps on landings and takeoffs, to make the overall flight traffic more evenly distributed during each hour.
- Phase out 30 slots over the next five years to reduce overcrowding. Congress, over the years, has approved additional slots — or flights — for the airport, in part for the convenience of lawmakers who fly back and forth to their districts and home states. The legislation would phase out six each year, through 2032.
Kaine said the proposed changes reflect recommendations that have been made by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“The capacity challenges at DCA/Reagan is definitely something that the NTSB has suggested that we need to ameliorate,” he said.
The airport has added 64 daily flights since 2000.
Congress considering broader air safety legislation
The bill proposed by the Virginia senators is specifically aimed at issues related to Reagan Airport.
Congress is also considering a broader bill called the ROTOR Act that was proposed in the wake of the 2025 collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 and the Army Black Hawk helicopter, which was the worst U.S. aviation accident in decades.
Family members of the victims earlier this month gathered outside of the U.S. Capitol to renew their push for the legislation.
The Senate unanimously passed the legislation, but the House narrowly failed to approve it earlier this year. The bill includes a wide range of requirements based on NTSB recommendations. Among them is requiring aircraft to include equipment called ADS-B In, which can provide real-time information to pilots about the location of nearby aircraft.
“We owe it to the victims of the fatal midair collision near DCA and their loved ones to take action and prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again,” Warner said in a statement related to the legislation he’s co-sponsoring.
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