WASHINGTON -
In the past, airlines could not fly between Reagan National Airport and cities beyond 1,250 miles from Washington D.C. unless Congress passed a law to authorize it.
Now that will change thanks to a new law that will make flying from Reagan National Airport to the other side of the country a little easier for passengers.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Alaska Airlines will have direct service to Portland, Oregon, JetBlue directly to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Southwest Airlines non-stop to Austin, Texas and Virgin America non-stop to San Francisco.
Each city will receive one new non-stop roundtrip per day.
This will be Virgin America's first service at Reagan National Airport.
"If you're Virgin America, it's a big deal because now they get to fly into the nation's capital," says Charlie Leocha, Director of the Consumer Travel Alliance.
Consumer Travel Alliance is a watchdog group monitoring everything involving the cost of travel.
"What the D.O.T. has done is they've added more low-cost carriers to the mix of flights in and out of Reagan and that ultimately means more competition and lower prices for consumers," says Leocha.
Competition and lower fares is exactly what Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood says they hope to create with the new non-stop flights.
"Options are always good and in a competitive market, pricing is always going to come down, just to stay competitive," says passenger Tom Foltz.
"Anytime the prices can come down, I'm going to [have more incentive] to travel and go places, spend my money, so I think it's a good thing," says passenger Beth Sanders.
This new law allows carriers already servicing Reagan National Airport to be a part of this.
American Airlines will trade one roundtrip flight to Dallas for a flight to Los Angeles.
Delta will trade a roundtrip from New York's La Guardia Airport for a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah.
United Airlines will trade a flight from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for a flight to San Francisco.
And US Airways will trade a trip to Dallas for a flight to San Diego.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
