DCA Reopens To GA — Sort Of…

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BizJets Return To National Airport

A chartered Hawker 1000 jet landed at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Tuesday morning, the first GA aircraft to land there since September 2001. The jet, operated by New World Jet of Teterboro, N.J., landed at about 7 a.m., taxied beneath welcoming arches of water sprayed from two fire trucks, and parked at the Signature Flight Support hangar at the south end of the field. The passengers, including James Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), were greeted by airport officials and representatives from Congress and the federal government. “This day has been a long time coming,” said Coyne. “For more than four years, NATA and its industry partners have worked feverishly to demonstrate to our nation’s security officials that reopening DCA to charter and general aviation operations is secure and will provide a needed economic boost to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.” According to a study by the National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA), the ban on general aviation at DCA cost over $200 million as a result of lost jobs and wages, business lost by local aviation firms and their suppliers, and lost tax revenue to the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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