Reagan National Archives

First look: D.C. Reagan National’s new commuter concourse

March 27, 2017

Serious construction work is expected to begin in a matter of weeks on a $1 billion transformation of Washington Reagan National Airport – including construction of a new passenger concourse.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) last week released a new video showcasing that new concourse, which will handle commuter flights at the crowded airport. The new concourse won’t be ready until 2021, but it will eliminate the need for travelers to take buses to parked regional aircraft from DCA’s busy Gate 35X in Terminal C, which handles some 1.2 million passengers a year.

Rendering of the walkway to DCA’s new commuter concourse. (Image: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority)

“The concourse will provide regional travelers with direct, enclosed access to planes via jet bridges, spacious waiting and boarding areas, diverse seating options with integrated power outlets and new concessions,” MWAA said. “The concourse design includes architectural features consistent with the Terminal B/C’s exposed metal beams, glass walls and domed ceilings while maximizing open, navigable gate areas and panoramic views of downtown Washington D.C.”

The new 14-gate concourse – located on the airport’s northern end next to Terminals B and C — will cost the airports authority its current headquarters building, which will be demolished to make way for the commuter facility.

Plan for the new commuter concourse (Image: MWAA)

The massive improvement effort at the airport, called Project Journey, also calls for two new security checkpoints that will be built above the arrivals roadway for Terminals B/C, and will be connected to National Hall and linked by walkways to parking garages and the airport’s Metrorail station. That piece will increase the number of security lanes from the current 20 to 28. The new security checkpoints are due to open in 2020.

New security checkpoints will be built above the airport roadway. (Image: MWAA)

Officials said the work will have some impact on traffic flow along airport roadways, but they will schedule most of the work for nighttime hours to minimize inconvenience for travelers.

DCA last year handled more than 23 million passengers – about 50 percent more than its intended capacity, and more than the number that used Washington Dulles Airport, which is many times the size of National.

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Routes: Alaska/Virgin at SFO + American, Delta, Frontier, OneJet

December 22, 2016

Virgin America will add SFO-Orlando flights next year. (Image: Virgin America)

In domestic route news, Alaska Airlines and Virgin America provide details of their new San Francisco flights; American Airlines adds routes at Washington Reagan National and Phoenix, but drops one from Los Angeles; Delta adds a pair of Florida routes; OneJet expands at Pittsburgh; and Frontier will resume seasonal Cleveland-West Coast service.

Alaska Airlines has announced details of the new San Francisco services it mentioned earlier this week. On June 14, Alaska’s Virgin America unit will begin daily A320 flights from SFO to Orlando – but you’ll have to wake up early, because they depart SFO at 6:30 a.m.

On June 15, Alaska will expand its California Corridor presence by launching three daily SFO-Orange County roundtrips, increasing to four on July 18. (You might recall that Virgin America jumped into the SFO-SNA market in 2009, only to jump back out less than a year later in the face of stiff competition from Southwest.). Also on July 18, Alaska adds a pair of daily San Francisco-Minneapolis-St. Paul roundtrips. The Orange County and MSP flights will use 76-seat SkyWest E175s with first class, premium class and main cabin seating.

Delta is beefing up its east coast presence with new service from Boston to Florida. On February 18, Delta will begin twice-daily service from Boston to Tampa, and on February 17 it starts weekend-only (Saturday and Sunday) flights from Boston to Ft. Myers. (JetBlue also flies both routes.) Both routes will use Airbus A319s.

Republic Airways flies E175s like this one for American Eagle and Delta Connection. (Image: American Airlines)

An American Eagle/Republic E175 will fly from Washington D.C. to Northwest Arkansas. (Image: American Airlines)

American Airlines plans to expand at Washington Reagan National in the spring. On April 4, it will kick off new daily American Eagle/Republic Airlines service from DCA to Northwest Arkansas Airport in Fayetteville (near Walmart headquarters) with an Embraer 175. And on the same date it will begin twice-daily American Eagle/PSA Airlines service from DCA to Grand Rapids, Mich., with CRJ 200s; and daily Eagle/Republic roundtrips from DCA to Pensacola, Fla., with an E175.

Meanwhile, American this month began new American Eagle/SkyWest daily CRJ 700 service between its Phoenix hub and Santa Fe, N.M. American used to fly to Santa Fe from Los Angeles, but discontinued that service in 2015. It also serves Santa Fe from Dallas/Ft. Worth. And speaking of Los Angeles, American has decided to discontinue its three-year-old non-stop service between LAX and Pittsburgh as of February 14.

OneJet uses small Hawker 400XPs on short-haul routes. (Image: OneJet)

One airline that’s growing at Pittsburgh is OneJet, which operates small business jets in regional markets under public charter rules. OneJet plans to begin daily PIT-Richmond service March 1, followed by daily PIT-Albany flights March 22. It already flies from Pittsburgh to Hartford, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Louisville and Cincinnati.

Frontier Airlines, which introduced seasonal flights last year from Cleveland to four West Coast cities, is bringing them back in 2017. In April, Frontier will add service from Cleveland to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland, with flights operating three or four days a week and fares starting as low as $79 one way.

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Huge changes at Washington Reagan National [VIDEO]

October 21, 2016

TravelSkills editor Chris McGinnis is in Washington DC this week-- flew nonstop SFO-Washington National on Virgin America

Big changes coming to Washington DC’s preferred airport (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Preliminary work is about to begin on a massive renovation project at Washington Reagan National Airport.

Airport officials this week released an animated video (below) of what the overall facility and its new security checkpoints will look like after all the work is finished, which won’t be for about four years. It will bring the biggest changes to DCA since its Terminals B and C opened almost 20 years ago.

Although the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority had always looked to Dulles International to handle the region’s long-term growth in air traffic, it seems that passengers continue to prefer the short trip to close-in Reagan National over a long journey out to IAD, so DCA’s passenger numbers have been setting records every year. Last year they topped 23 million, well above the airport’s capacity.

The primary goal of the big renovation is to reduce congestion in the terminals. One big piece of the project will be construction of a new concourse for commuter and regional flights on the north side of the airport. Once it opens, passengers will no longer have to use what the Washington Post has called the airport’s most “notorious choke point,” Gate 35X, where they board shuttle buses to get to their aircraft. That will require demolition of the airport’s executive offices and a couple of hangars.

National Hall, which offers dining and retail venues along a glass-enclosed walkway on the Terminal B and C concourse level, will also get a makeover, with security screening moved to the arrival level.

The plan also involves work on airport roadways and construction of a new parking garage. Much of the roadway work will be done at night to minimize inconvenience to passengers. The overall project is expected to cost about $1 billion.

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Uber/Lyft: Airport pick-ups start in Chicago; new airport fee in D.C.

November 7, 2015

Ride-sharing airport pick-ups in Chicago will be allowed starting later this month. (Image: Jim Glab)

Ride-sharing operators like Uber and Lyft will soon be able to pick up passengers at Chicago’s two airports, but they’re facing a new fee for Washington D.C. airport rides.

In Chicago, the city’s Department of Aviation has released new rules for ride-sharing app pickups at O’Hare and Midway airports and at the McCormick Place convention center. Passenger pick-ups at those places will be allowed starting November 18.

At both airports, passengers who summon an Uber or Lyft driver will have to meet them on the upper level roadway — not the lower level where taxis and other transportation services can be found. The drivers can’t get out of their cars to look for their customers, but they will be allowed to have signs identifying themselves.

Pick-ups are allowed only in designated areas — at O’Hare’s domestic terminals, on the upper level between Terminals 1 and 2 and between Terminals 2 and 3; and at the international terminal (Terminal 5), at the west end of the lower level. Pick-ups at Midway will be adjacent to Door 1 on the upper level.

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In Washington D.C., meanwhile, a new $4 fee has been imposed on Uber and Lyft rides to and from Reagan National and Dulles airports. An Uber official told The Washingtonian that the company’s drivers will pass the fee along to customers.

The fee brings the companies into compliance with airport rules and Virginia law, and it means ride-sharing drivers will be able to wait in staging areas at the airports instead of off-site. Uber complained that the fee for taxi pick-ups at the airports is only $3, and said the new Washington surcharge is among the highest in the country for its drivers.

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Uber, Lyft in Vegas, D.C.: It’s complicated!

September 15, 2015

Uber says its drivers are ow cruising The Strip in Las Vegas. (Image: Jim Glab)

Uber says its drivers are now cruising The Strip in Las Vegas. (Image: Jim Glab)

After being blocked from Nevada operations last fall by a court injunction, Uber said in an email blast this week that it has finally started picking up UberX riders in Nevada following state approval. An Uber spokesperson told TravelSkills that Uber airport pickups are currently not allowed at McCarran or Reno-Tahoe airports, but airport drop offs are.

Meanwhile, a decision on ride-sharing operations in the nation’s capital is expected this week as well.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, the Nevada Transportation Authority on Monday approved ride-sharing in the state by both Uber and Lyft, and Uber said the following day that it had started operations in Las Vegas. That announcement came on the same day that the Clark County Board of Commissioners introduced a new ordinance to impose a special business license requirement on ride-sharing operators; the commissioners scheduled an October 20 hearing on the proposal.

So is Uber operating legally? According to lawyers for the state, Nevada law bars local and county governments from imposing special license requirements on ride-sharing firms — an opinion Clark County clearly disagrees with. In any case, Uber apparently isn’t waiting for further bureaucratic clarification and its drivers hit The Strip today.

Meanwhile, a vote is expected Wednesday at the Metropolitan Washington (D.C.) Airports Authority on a proposal to allow ride-sharing operators to legally access Reagan National and Dulles airports. The companies would pay a one-time fee of $5,000 to access the airports, and drivers would be assessed $4 for each passenger pick-up and drop-off.

In other developments, Uber has added an enhancement to its Uber for Business platform — which companies use to track and pay for employees’ rides — by making it possible for users to switch seamlessly on the app from their business profile to their personal profile without having to log off and log back in again.

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