A new United States Department of Transportation ( DOT ) filing has revealed the flight timings of beyond-perimeter flights from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that were rewarded to five airlines in December 2024.
Flight timings from Washington-Reagan
The DOT’s filing on January 8 outlined that Alaska Airlines , American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines , and United Airlines flights will depart and land at the airport between 08:00 and 21:00 Eastern Standard Time (EST).
“In assigning these times, the Department is adhering to the statutory requirements of [specific regulatory provisions], and also seeking to ensure that the new operations are conducted in a manner consistent with the benefits assessed by the Department for each proposal.”
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However, the DOT emphasized that the assigned times indicate the hourly periods during which the slot exemptions must be operated but not the precise arrival and departure times for the new operations.
Airline Times assigned (EST) Alaska Airlines 08:00 – 21:00 American Airlines 10:00 – 19:00 Delta Air Lines 12:00 – 14:00 Southwest Airlines 12:00 – 14:00 United Airlines 07:00 – 20:00
The Department also warned that the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration’s ( FAA ) Slot Administration Office might need to consult further before they are launched regarding the exact takeoff or landing timings and effective dates.
“The Department acknowledges that the air carriers may seek schedule adjustments at DCA in order to optimize the use of the awarded slot exemptions.”
Launching services no later than March
According to the DOT, an airline may ask to temporarily exchange the assigned times with those of other slots held by the requesting carrier at Washington-Reagan to operate flights according to the document that awarded the quintet of the airlines the beyond-perimeter slots.
“The FAA Slot Administration Office will evaluate such requests and make a determination in each case that is compliant with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements for the utilization of slot times between and among individual air carriers.”
However, the Department emphasized that the five airlines must launch services on the awarded routes no later than March 17 and may only use the slot exemptions to serve the approved airports.
Alaska Airlines, American Airlines , Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines plan to serve flights from Washington-Reagan to San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Antonio International Airport (SAT), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), respectively.
Note that Southwest Airlines’ flights between Washington-Reagan and Las Vegas will continue to Sacramento International Airport (SMF) without customers having to change aircraft.
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The DOT stated that the Department may withdraw the slot exemptions if an airline fails to commence services, suspends or ceases flights, or fails to meet the reporting provisions or the use-or-lose requirements.
Related US Airlines And Their Tentative DOT-Awarded Routes From Reagan National Airport While some airlines will introduce new routes, others will add frequencies to existing services.
Announcing services from DCA
However, all five airlines have already announced their intentions to serve the routes and flight timings. For example, on December 17, 2024, Alaska Airlines said that it would launch flights from San Diego to Washington-Reagan at 14:10 local time (UTC -7), arriving at the latter airport at 21:55 on March 17.
On December 20, American Airlines said that its services between San Antonio and Washington-Reagan will begin on March 2, with ticket sales starting on December 23, 2024. The flights will depart San Antonio at 6:35 local time (UTC -6) and arrive at the nation’s capital at 10:41.
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Delta Air Lines will launch its direct services from Seattle to Washington-Reagan on March 9. Southwest Airlines disclosed that its Washington-Reagan-Las Vegas-Sacramento connection will begin on February 13, with the four weekly flights switching to a daily itinerary on March 6.
While United Airlines has not officially disclosed the launch date of its second daily flight between San Francisco and Washington-Reagan, Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning system showed that the carrier will operate 14 weekly itineraries on the route from February.
Furthermore, when the airline announced that it had applied for the beyond-perimeter slots in July, its proposed flight would offer the first-ever “morning departure from DCA to SFO and an afternoon departure from SFO to DCA.”