Lawmakers have an interest in boosting direct flights to their states because Reagan is closer to downtown than Dulles.

Cruz has a key role in congressional oversight of the Wednesday night accident as chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over aviation safety.

Leaders across the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region, as well as federal lawmakers, are reacting to the tragic American Airlines plane crash near DCA.

Dozens of people are feared dead after a military helicopter collided with a civilian airliner midair around Washington, D.C.

Emergency alert is displayed on screens at Ronald Reagan National Airport, after American Eagle flight 5342 collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and crashed in the Potomac River, U.S. January 30, 2025. (Reuters/Ken Cedeno)

After Wednesday’s fatal crash which took down a commercial jet and a military helicopter on a training flight at Washington DC’s Reagan National airport, public officials and aviation experts are resurfacing concerns about how uniquely congested the airspace is around the country’s capital.

The airspace around Washington, D.C., is congested and complex — a combination aviation experts have long worried could lead to catastrophe.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that a military helicopter collided with a regional jet near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C.

Last year, senators from Virginia and Maryland sounded the alarm over congestion in the skies above Washington.

Texas, on Thursday cautioned against jumping to conclusions about what caused a tragic midair collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet landing at Ronald Reagan