Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America scored rights to serve daily nonstop routes from Reagan Washington National beyond the 1,250-mile perimeter limit

that currently restricts flight operations at the airport. The U.S. Department of Transportation granted permission to Alaska for flights to Portland, Ore., to JetBlue for service to San Juan, to Southwest to operate to Austin and to Virgin America for flights to San Francisco. The recent Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization enabled the new services, and according to DOT, "also allowed four large carriers already serving Reagan National to exchange a total of eight slots for flights within the perimeter for an equal number of slot exemptions to permit nonstop flights beyond the perimeter. As a result, American Airlines will trade one roundtrip flight to Dallas-Fort Worth for a flight to Los Angeles, Delta Air Lines will trade one roundtrip flight to New York LaGuardia Airport for a flight to Salt Lake City, United Airlines will trade one roundtrip flight to Chicago O'Hare for a flight to San Francisco and US Airways will trade one roundtrip flight to Dallas-Fort Worth for a flight to San Diego."