ARLINGTON, Va. — The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), organizer of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), is urging Congress to loosen what is referred to as the “perimeter rule” at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), with the purpose of enabling more flights between Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas.
The perimeter rule, enacted in 1966, prohibits airlines from operating nonstop flights of more than 1,250 miles. As a result, there is only one nonstop flight between Las Vegas and DCA. There are only four flights a day to Las Vegas from the three airports in the area (DCA, Washington Dulles and Baltimore), and two are a half-hour away from Washington.
Gary Shapiro has written and sent a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, formally endorsing H.R. 3185, the Direct Capital Access Act. This would add 28 new in- and beyond-perimeter flights to DCA, help tech leaders travel to and from the West Coast from D.C., and offer trade show attendees and exhibitors from the area more options when traveling. Take this year’s CES, at which there were more than 118,000 people in attendance.
“Adding just 28 daily flights at DCA, as the Direct Capital Access Act does, will help reverse decades of damage stemming from the perimeter rule. It will bring great competition, drive down prices, reduce travel time to and from the East Coast, and help foster greater collaboration and connectivity within the consumer technology industry,” Shapiro writes. “On behalf of the more than 1,000 consumer technology companies which CTA represents, we respectfully ask that you support the Direct Capital Access Act as Congress considers the FAA Reauthorization legislation this year.”
Reach Gary Shapiro at gshapiro@cta.tech
