May 2024 Senate passes FAA Reauthorization adding 5 slots/10 flights per day at DCA

Senate passes FAA Reauthorization adding 5 slots/10 flights per day at DCA

Despite our best efforts and that of our elected representatives, the Senate last night passed the FAA Reauthorization bill with the addition of 5 new slots / 10 new long-haul flights every day over our homes and communities.  These will be added to the  400+ that we already endure.  Here is an informative article about what happened in the last 24 hours: 

U.S. Senate in FAA bill adds flights at Washington National, bucking Md. opponents (Maryland Matters, 5/10/24)

Thank you to everyone who called and wrote to our MD Congressional delegation asking them to oppose this measure.  They worked very diligently on our behalf to stop it. Congressman Raskin and others succeeded in blocking the extra slots from the House version.  Senators Van Hollen and Cardin tried a number of legislative maneuvers to get the slots stripped from the Senate bill and voted against the final bill.  But in the end, the preferences of Senators from other states won out over the interests of our local communities.   

South flow approach procedures are scheduled to change on July 11th.  We hope that will help to mitigate the impact of these additional flights in our already overburdened skies.