Inside the fight to kill new flights at law­mak­ers’ favorite air­port

Inside the fight to kill new flights at lawmakers’ favorite airport

New cor­re­spon­dence between an uncon­ven­tion­al group of allies is shed­ding light on the high-stakes fight to pre­vent more flights at law­mak­ers’ favorite air­port.
Over the course of the last year, Unit­ed Air­lines lob­by­ists worked with Wash­ing­ton, D.C.’s local air­port author­i­ty as well as staff to Vir­ginia law­mak­ers to coor­di­nate strat­e­gy and mes­sag­ing in a bid to keep Con­gress from approv­ing addi­tion­al flights at Rea­gan Nation­al Air­port, one of the busiest trav­el hubs in the coun­try.
Emails obtained via pub­lic records request from a rival group look­ing to expand the num­ber of slots at the air­port, known as DCA, give a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the lob­by­ing effort as law­mak­ers con­sid­er a major avi­a­tion bill this we …