Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002 | 10:44 a.m.
America West Airlines, the No. 2 airline serving Las Vegas, will resume nonstop service to Washington D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport next week.
The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline, which operates 75 flights to 32 different destinations from Las Vegas, hasn't had nonstop service to the central Washington airport since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Flights begin Feb. 27.
America West, which is attempting to rebound from a $60.9 million fourth-quarter loss and $147.9 million loss for 2001, made the announcement in a Tuesday news conference at McCarran International Airport that included an appearance by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
C.A. Howlett, senior vice president of public affairs for America West, credited Reid with helping the airline through a maze of new regulations en route to the company securing the first government-backed loan authorized under a $15 billion federal aviation bailout program.
Howlett said the $380 million loan will help the Las Vegas market, since the airline will have brought back between 90 percent and 95 percent of its pre-Sept. 11 Las Vegas service by June. By comparison, Howlett said only 90 percent of Phoenix's air service will have been restored by then.
"This resumption of Washington service is an important sign that airline travel in our country is returning to the volume that existed before Sept. 11," Reid said.
America West's competitive rival on the route, Las Vegas-based National Airlines, hasn't been cleared to resume flying because new security regulations prohibit airliners with more than 156 seats from landing there. National Airlines operates no planes with capacities below 156.
America West plans to use a twin-engine Airbus A-319 jet with 12 first-class seats and 112 coach seats on the route.
Reagan National is considered an important destination to America West and National because of its proximity to the business and tourism centers of Washington D.C. The airport is on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, just south of the National Mall. That's where many of Washington's attractions are located -- the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian Institution.
Two other airports serve the Washington market, Dulles International Airport near Reston, Va., about 35 miles west of Washington, and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, in suburban Baltimore, about 40 miles northeast of Washington.
But lawmakers enjoy using Reagan National because it's so close to their offices.
Reid said depending on the time of day, a trip from the outlying airports to his office can take an hour and a half. But from Reagan National, he said, it's a 10-minute drive.
While travelers enjoy the close proximity of the airport to the center of the city, they pay a premium for the luxury. For example, an advance-purchase nonstop, round-trip flight from Las Vegas to Baltimore would cost $255. A similar flight for the same days through Reagan National would cost $452.50.
The restored Washington flight will leave Las Vegas at 1:20 p.m., arriving at 8:30 p.m. The return will leave Washington at 8:20 a.m., arriving at McCarran at 10:45 a.m.
Last week, America West announced it is restoring flights between Las Vegas and Boston, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport beginning next Wednesday. An additional New York flight will be added in April.
The airline also announced in January that it is starting service between Las Vegas and Colorado Spring, Colo., on Wednesday and between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City May 1.
Howlett said two more service announcements involving Las Vegas would be made within the next month, but he would not say what cities would be added.
Meanwhile, National Airlines spokesman Dik Shimizu said his company would resume service to Reagan National as soon as it receives clearance from the FAA or the Department of Transportation to land its 175-seat Boeing 757 jets there. The company has no plans to relinquish the two slots it won from the Department of Transportation in July 2000.
The Department of Transportation awarded 24 slots -- 12 of them to destinations more than 1,250 miles away from Washington -- to airlines to provide nonstop service to and from Reagan National. America West and National Airlines each won two slots -- one takeoff and one landing to and from Las Vegas each. America West received four more to and from its Phoenix hub.
Both airlines flew the route until the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. When air service was gradually resumed at the nation's airports after the attacks, regulators were more cautious about the standards for Reagan National.
A White House directive limited the seating capacity of planes bound for the airport and persons aboard planes destined for Reagan National are required to be in their seats 30 minutes before landing and for 30 minutes after takeoff.
If National Airlines is unsuccessful in getting a waiver from the 156-seat rule at the airport, it has another option -- acquiring smaller planes to make the trip.
National, which is in the final stages of having its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan approved by a Las Vegas bankruptcy judge, has announced that part of its strategy is to acquire smaller jets to handle some of the airline's shorter routes. If that occurs, the airline may have the option of putting one of those planes in service to Reagan National.
National Airlines on Tuesday began applying for a $70 million loan similar to the one America West received.
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