The bill hasn’t even hit President Biden’s desk but American Airlines and the City of San Antonio are already pursuing one of the five new slot pairs authorized as part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill today.
The city announced as part of a press release that they have partnered with the Fort Worth based carrier with the goal of initiating nonstop service between the nation’s Capital and the Alamo City.
City leaders have been campaigning for this flight in recent years and San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg had this to say about the new partnership.
“We have been working for more than a decade to give residents of America’s seventh-largest city the same access to our nation’s leaders as nearly every other major city in the country. I am grateful for the hard work of Senator Cruz and our entire congressional delegation and look forward to Secretary Buttigieg’s approval of American’s application to initiate nonstop service from Military City USA to DCA.”
Ron Nirenberg, Mayor of San Antonio
DCA’s Perimeter Rule
As Mayor Nirenberg noted, San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the country and you’d think that it would have no issue convincing an airline to launch service to Reagan National Airport (DCA). The city currently has direct flights to Washington-Dulles International Airport on United and Baltimore-Washington International Airport via Southwest.
Unfortunately for cities like San Antonio, Austin, Denver, and Phoenix, the airport has a 1,250 mile perimeter rule in place. WIth few exceptions, all flights to/from DCA must be within this range. For any flights longer than 1,250 miles, the airline must use a slot exemption.
These slot exemptions are extremely limited and highly coveted so airlines must determine the best use of them. For an airline to begin service between DCA and SAT currently, it would have to give up another route. The calculation likely comes down to where they believe they can charge the greatest fare premium or gain favor with local officials.
Currently, 10 cities see regularly scheduled service from DCA outside of the perimeter; Austin, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Salt Lake City, San Francisco, San Juan, and Seattle. In order for a new city to obtain service, an airline would have to give up a flight to one of the above cities.
Making the Case for San Antonio
San Antonio is the largest city in the country without DCA service currently. This, along with the large concentration of military bases in the area, will likely be a factor in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to award the slots.
American is also helping out the bid significantly. The airline currently operates a hub at DCA and could have applied for more than one slot pair. However, the city noted in the press release that the San Antonio route would be their only application. This should bolster the chances of the airport receiving the flight.
Nate Gatten, American Executive Vice President of Corporate Real Estate and Chief Government Affairs Officer, was quoted as saying;
San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in the country and is the largest unserved market in Texas from DCA. This route will provide a one-stop connection option from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic to SAT on our industry-leading domestic network while continuing to offer nonstop service to more than 85 destinations from DCA.
Nate Gatten, American Executive Vice President of Corporate Real Estate and Chief Government Affairs Officer
Ted Cruz (R-TX), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is also supportive of the bid. “I am thrilled that the City of San Antonio is now positioned to directly access our nation’s capital with a non-stop flight into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,” said Senator Cruz.
Once the bill is signed into law, the USDOT will have 60 days to award the five slot pairs based on the applications submitted.
Summary
American Airlines and the City of San Antonio are launching a bit to obtain a direct link to Washington, DC. The airline and city are working closely together to obtain one of the five slot pair perimeter exemptions available in the new FAA bill. Applicants will be notified by the USDOT 60 days after the bill becomes law.
With all of the support behind it, I’d be surprised if they didn’t get approval. American is focusing its efforts on this one route and the military ties make this a slam dunk. Hopefully more Texans will be jetting off to our nation’s capital soon!
This is all true but not why San Antonio will get the flight: “San Antonio is the largest city in the country without DCA service currently. This, along with the large concentration of military bases in the area, will likely be a factor in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to award the slots.”
Ted Cruz is ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. He and Sam Graves are the two most important Republicans to DOT. He championed the beyond-perimeter slots *precisely to get a San Antonio flight*. He was crucial to FAA Reauthorization. FAA isn’t going to double cross him on this.
The only way for American to not win this route would be for Southwest to come in and request the same route. San Antonio is almost certain to get this flight… just like Phoenix got original beyond-perimeter slots that John McCain championed.
Oh yeah, the application is just a formality at this point. With how quick they were with the press release this is essentially a done deal. The San Antonio mayor has been lobbying for this flight for a long time.
Since Southwest already has the AUS-DCA route and this being the only route American is putting in for, I doubt Southwest would want to jump in. Curious as to whether you think Delta will jump in on AUS-DCA now that they have the E175 SkyWest base here in Austin and the fact they’re building up their route map here. They already have a pretty healthy Delta Connection route map out of DCA.
Southwest wants DCA-DEN. They have been salivating over adding DEN for the longest time. Southwest will not be worrying about San Antonio.