The U.S. Department of Transportation has rejected a proposal by Sun Country Airlines to offer daily nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Minneapolis-based Sun Country, which has 13 flights a week between Minneapolis and McCarran International Airport, had applied for two of eight takeoff and landing slots at National Airport.
National Airport — popular with lawmakers and government workers because of its close proximity to the Capitol — restricts the number of flights to and from points more than 1,250 miles away as a means of pushing traffic to Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington.
The Department of Transportation offered eight additional slots — basically, four round-trip flights — and seven airlines applied for them. Sun Country proposed flying the route with 129-seat Boeing 737 jets.
The airline said it planned to market the route to carry convention travelers to Las Vegas from Washington.
Opponents argued that the route already is served by US Airways and that Las Vegas is primarily a leisure market. Opponents also criticized Sun Country’s limited presence in the Las Vegas market and the small capacity of its planes compared with other applicants.
The Department of Transportation ultimately awarded routes between Washington and Portland, Ore., on Alaska Airlines; San Juan, Puerto Rico on JetBlue Airways; Austin, Texas, on Southwest Airlines; and San Francisco on Virgin America Airlines.