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United States says seven airlines qualified to apply for brand-new daily Washington flights

The U.S. Transportation Department stated on Monday that 7 significant airline companies are qualified to make an application for five brand-new everyday roundtrip flights from Washington Reagan National airport.

On May 16, President Joe Biden signed legislation developing the brand-new flights at the busy airport in Arlington, Virginia, outside the country's capital. Applications should be submitted by July 8 and discuss applications need to be sent by July 17.

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines < , United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Air Canada and Alaska Airlines are eligible to use, the Transportation Department said.

USDOT stated it motivated airlines to offer no greater than one backup service proposition in their applications, citing the law requiring the new flights to start by mid-July.

The Washington region has 3 significant airports, but Reagan National is the closest to the U.S. Capitol and downtown. Because of its brief runways, its primary runway is the busiest in the nation. By guests, Reagan is the 23rd-busiest U.S. airport.

Delta said earlier it would request a brand-new flight in between Seattle and Reagan and if successful would compete with Alaska Airline companies which runs the 2 current everyday flights in between the airports.

Delta heavily lobbied for the modification - and had actually promoted adding even more everyday flights - while United opposed it.

Southwest said it will look for a new everyday flight between Washington and Las Vegas, which has just one flight each day on American Airlines.

American wants to begin a new daily flight in between San Antonio and Washington, which would link the seventh-largest U.S. city to the DC airport.

Alaska desires a new daily flight to Reagan from San Diego, the biggest market without direct flights to the DC airport.

(source: Reuters)