The Crankyflier, one of the blogs we check in on regularly, had this great article with visuals on the perimeter rules at National Airport and LaGuardia Airport. These are the only two airports with perimeter regulations, limiting the distance a flight can travel to/from there. Love Field, which has its Wright Amendment, is not a straight perimeter rule and thus not considered this type of rule.
We briefly commented on LaGuardia’s perimeter rule in a post on USAirways. Crankyflier’s interpretation implies that perimeter rules at LaGuardia were related to service at JFK airport. As we commented, the perimeter rule was imposed at LaGuardia in 1984. JFK was well-established in 1984. The perimeter rule at LaGuardia was created to reduce overcrowding, a problem that persists until the modern day. We reported on the current slot program at LaGuardia in a post. The current proposals would require airlines to fly larger aircraft in and out of LaGuardia, with exemptions for certain regional service.
The other interesting part that Crankyflier brought up was that LaGuardia’s perimeter rules are not in effect on Saturdays, which restrict airlines to operating Saturday service to Aruba, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Vail. Once weekly service does not work effectively for building interest.
Perimeter and slot exemptions at Washington National Airport came into effect in 1966, and the purpose of this was to drive business to Washington-Dulles Airport, which had opened in 1962. The concern at the time was congestion and aviation noise around the nation’s capital, which was also the reason why people protested in in 1998-9 when Senator McCain introduced legislation to remove the perimeter rule. Locals were concerned about noise and traffic from increased service and larger aircraft.
McCain at the time actually claimed that a study conducted by Boeing and backed by various industry spokesmen indicated that lifting the restrictions would actually reduce noise because “airlines use equipment that has better range and fuel efficiency for longer routes.”
Either way, LaGuardia has its Denver exemption, and National has Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. The exemptions, at least at National, with the politicking there, are likely to increase. The real concern at both airports is volume. There is a lot of demand, and not enough capacity. The FAA needs to balance the demands for new service with the need to relieve congestion and noise.
We do agree, the perimeter rules, which are combined with the slot rules have to be seriously rethought. But with the slot rules, if an airline adds a flight, they must discontinue a flight to somewhere else. The FAA must have some way to manage this. If someone has a good idea to manage congestion at airports like National and LaGuardia, we here at Flight Wisdom as well as the FAA would love to hear about it.