Why Reagan National Airport has the country's busiest runway
The deadly American Airlines crash at DCA Wednesday evening is reupping long-held concerns about overcrowding at the airport and understaffing among air traffic controllers.
The big picture: Just last year, Congress added more long-haul flights to DCA despite fears they would jeopardize safety. The airport saw at least two near-misses in 2024.
Zoom in: Navigating the skies around DCA is notoriously challenging. Its short runways sit along the Potomac River in one of the most-protected airspaces in the country, and pilots often have to share the area with low-flying military helicopters.
And as the tussle for more flights has been driven by airlines and members of Congress — many of whom want direct flights home — the airport has become increasingly congested: It was built to accommodate 15 million passengers a year, but now sees 25 million.
The main runway is now the country's busiest, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).
Stunning stat: The runway sees 800 takeoffs and landings a day — or one almost every minute.
Meanwhile, a nationwide shortage of airspace traffic controllers has led to even more challenging conditions in the tower.
Air traffic control staffing at DCA during the crash was "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic," per a New York Times review of a preliminary FAA safety report on the incident.
One controller was overseeing landing and departing planes as well as helicopters in the airspace, reports the Times — a task normally handled by two people.
DCA's air traffic control tower was almost a third below its staff goals in September 2023, per the latest Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan — 19 fully certified controllers out of a target of 30.
What they're saying: "Those of us who live here, we know how complicated and congested an airspace this is," Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said on NPR Thursday. "You have commercial flights, you have military flights, you have the president being flown on Marine 1 ... it's a congested airspace with some special rules."
"We've been on the record for some time sounding the alarm about congestion and hoping that an event like last night would not occur," said Kaine.
What's next: "This is a tremendous whole-of-government effort," National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday. The agency intends to have a preliminary report ready in 30 days.
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