San Diego has a shot at securing a long-awaited nonstop flight to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, thanks to new federal legislation that opens up much-coveted slots for the airfield just outside of Washington, D.C.
Alaska Airlines announced this week that it plans to compete for one of five new nonstop openings out of Reagan National (DCA) and specifically named San Diego as its chosen destination. The airline already flies nonstop from Reagan National to four other West Coast destinations — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
This story is for subscribers
We offer subscribers exclusive access to our best journalism.
Thank you for your support.
“We were happy with our existing service to DCA but since these slots opened up, we are taking the opportunity to put forward a strong application to connect San Diego,” Alaska Airlines said in an emailed statement to the Union-Tribune. “The last time slots opened at DCA, we applied for a San Diego flight. We’re hopeful we’ll be able to serve the community this time around.”
Advertisem*nt
San Diego is the single largest market in the U.S. without nonstop service to Reagan National. While there are airlines that regularly fly between San Diego and the Dulles and Baltimore airports without an intervening stop, Reagan National is far more convenient, just five miles from the nation’s capital.
“The San Diego region has waited for a very long time for an opportunity to restore nonstop air service to Reagan National Airport,” said San Diego airport President and CEO Kim Becker. “We look forward to continue working with Alaska Airlines, San Diego’s congressional delegation, and Mayor Todd Gloria to secure this vital nonstop service between the nation’s capital and San Diego for the benefit of our region’s defense, technology, and tourism industries.”
Flights out of Reagan National have been tightly regulated for years. As a smaller national airport, it is subject to the perimeter rule, which limits nonstop flights in and out of Reagan to 1,250 miles from Washington, unless the government grants an exception. According to the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority, there are 40 flights out of the airport’s more than 800 daily flights that fall under that exception.
The one and only time San Diego had a nonstop route to Reagan National was in 2012 when then US Airways was granted an exception for San Diego. That lasted a couple of years until American Airlines merged with US Airways and decided to transfer its Reagan National slot from San Diego to Los Angeles, said Hampton Brown, vice president and chief revenue officer for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
“This is a very big deal because it is a fixed slot that couldn’t be moved away from San Diego and it’s essentially a downtown airport that’s the closest airport to the Pentagon and other federal departments in the district and northern Virginia,” Brown said. “So it has a lot of benefits to it. We’re the largest market without nonstop service to Reagan airport in the whole country, and we’re even larger than some cities that already have that service, like Portland.”
Currently, United and Alaska airlines offer nonstop service between San Diego and Washington Dulles International Airport, and Southwest Airlines flies nonstop to Baltimore, although Spirit Airlines recently announced that starting this summer, it will fly nonstop there as well.
Across all three airports serving the D.C. area last year, a daily average of 1,004 passengers flew each way, to and from San Diego, including those who were making intermediary stops, Brown said. Dulles had the largest passenger volume, at 479; Baltimore had 300; and Reagan National, 225, Brown said.
It’s unknown what other airlines, if any, will identify San Diego as a favored nonstop destination should they throw their hats into the ring for one of the new Reagan National slots. A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, which is the single largest carrier operating at the San Diego airport, said Thursday it does intend to apply for a new route but hasn’t yet announced its specific plans.
“I imagine the lobbying for these slots is going to be incredibly intense — airline against airline, city against city — and everyone will try to make the best possible argument for their routes,” said airline analyst Henry Harteveldt, of Atmospheric Research. “San Diego makes a lot of sense because it’s a major naval city so this would connect the Pentagon, nonstop, to one of its most important naval hubs. And San Diego is also a growing business city and a very popular leisure city so it has appeal as a point of origin and destination.”
Alaska’s bid for a Reagan National nonstop comes amid an aggressive expansion of the airline’s presence in San Diego. While Southwest can boast the highest passenger volumes out of San Diego, Alaska has bragging rights for the most destinations served locally.
“The question is, will Alaska’s arguments be as strong and compelling as the competing arguments that will be made,” Harteveldt said. “For instance, will Alaska be able to show, even if it won’t carry the most passengers, that those customers are under-served because they have very few nonstop connections to Dulles?”
The widening of access to flights out of Reagan National is part of a wide-ranging piece of legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration for five years, clearing the way for funding of key infrastructure projects and air safety programs. Among the more widely publicized consumer protection elements of the bill is a provision requiring automatic refunds to passengers whose flights are significantly delayed or canceled.
The House passed the $105 billion bill this week, and President Joe Biden is expected to sign it.
