July 2023 GREAT NEWS! The House rejected adding more long-haul flights at DCA!
THE EFFORT TO ADD MORE FLIGHTS AT DCA FAILED in the House version of the FAA Reauthorization.
THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who helped with this STEP towards victory!
Washington Post: Bid to add long-distance DCA flights fails as House passes FAA bill
Politico.com: House rejects adding flights at Congress' pet airport
DCist.com: In a victory for local officials, U.S. House rejects plan to increase long-haul flights at DCA
Press release from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton, co-chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus.
(Note the House bill includes some provisions re. helicopter noise in the DC region.)
Other noise-related provisions in the House version mostly would require the FAA to improve community engagement rather than actually reduce noise, but hopefully we can make good use of these provisions if they also appear in the final bill:
#24 Requires the FAA to solicit feedback from communities impacted by aircraft noise as part of the Community Collaboration Program.
#57 Revises the representative in the task force on Aviation and Airport Community Engagement to ensure that multiple airport communities and communities around airports are included.
#58 Ensures deliberate engagement with local community groups for the Community Collaboration Program.
#63 Clarifies that as part of the Part 150 Noise Standard Update, feedback should be solicited from individuals living in overflight communities.
#90 Revises Sec. 483 (Engagement Events) to increase the number of annual events the FAA must convene to engage with aviation-impacted communities in each geographic region of the Administration from one to two.
The fight to protect DCA from more flights is not over yet. The Senate has yet to pass their version of the FAA Reauthorization, and proponents of adding more flights have said they will try again in the Senate version. Nonetheless, this is a huge win and hopefully spells victory for protecting DCA's overburdened airspace from becoming even worse.
Thanks again to our awesome MCQSC members! -- and stay tuned for further developments.
