Airports in Washington, DC: Breaching the perimeter BUSINESS travellers and members of Congress who like flying out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) will soon have quicker ways to get home. National, as Democrats call it, was renamed after America's 40th president in 1998. Whatever the name, it is the most convenient big-city airport in America, a 15-minute subway ride from K Street, the epicentre of DC lobbying. Convenient if you are making a short hop, that is. Since 1966 the "perimeter rule" has limited DCA's usefulness. Non-stop flights are forbidden from DCA to destinations more than a set distance - currently 1,250 miles (2,012km) - from the airport. Six exceptions were introduced between 2000 and 2011: one flight a day to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, with two flights to Seattle, three to Denver and four to Phoenix. Hawaiians, Oregonians and House minority leaders from San Francisco have been out of luck, forced to head to Baltimore in Maryland or slog out to Dulles in Virginia, which is 30 miles from the city centre and may be reached only by car or bus along a congested highway. This is what the planners intended: after the perimeter was introduced in 1969, it reduced noise and congestion at National, but it also pushed a lot of business out to newly built Dulles. Happily for busy Washingtonians, the Federal Aviation Administration's recent reauthorisation includes a loosening of DCA's perimeter rule. The number of services to destinations outside the perimeter will increase by two-thirds. The airport's four big incumbents, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines, will each exchange an inside-perimeter flight for a longer one. San Francisco (United) and San Diego (US Airways) will be added to the destination board, and Los Angeles (American) and Salt Lake City (Delta) will each get a new round trip. Four new round trips will go to airlines with limited or no presence at DCA. Seven carriers have submitted proposals; federal regulators will pick the winners this month. Some politicians wonder whether Congress should be in the business of telling airlines how far to fly their planes, especially since modern aircraft are much quieter than they were back in 1969. Senator John McCain of Arizona introduced an unsuccessful bill to repeal the perimeter rule in 2009. East-coast politicians and airlines like United, which have invested a lot of money in Dulles, are happy with things as they are. But for travellers who dread the prospect of a long taxi ride on top of a cross-country flight, the perimeter rule is an unnecessary hassle. And what is the point of being in Congress, if you can't pass a law that shortens your commute?