WASHINGTON (AP) -- House lawmakers introduced a measure Wednesday to reopen Ronald Reagan Washington national Airport to general aviation for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security develop a plan to allow small planes and charter flights to use the airport and gives the secretary of transportation 180 days to permit the resumption of general aviation at National.
The Senate is considering similar legislation.
The airport in Arlington, Va., is the only one in the country that has not allowed small and charter planes to resume operations since the attacks by hijacked airliners on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Several small airports surrounding the nation's capital were allowed to resume operations in February.
''The resistance of the administration to opening general aviation here while small planes fly everywhere else has now met the two-fisted response of two bills demanding reopening now,'' said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C, one of the bill's cosponsors.
National Airport was once a major destination for private flights in and out of the capital region, and officials estimate the ban on general aviation is costing the industry $50 million a year. In 2000, National had more than 44,000 private flights. But the airport was closed to all flights from Sept. 11 through Oct. 4, 2001, because of the attacks, and private planes were not allowed to return.
The Transportation Security Administration has defended the ongoing ban and has said it is moving with ''appropriate prudence.''
