Airport near Washington to reopen under tight security with air guards

President Bush yesterday said Reagan National Airport just outside Washington would reopen under tight security, with armed air marshals on every flight and increased screening of passengers and luggage. Incoming and outgoing flights will vary flight patterns.

The decision came as enormous relief to local Virginia and DC politicians who have worried about the fate of 15,000 airport workers and the knock-on effect on tourism and business in the nation's capital from continued closure. Neither of the city's two other air access points, Dulles and Baltimore-Washington, were capable of taking up the Reagan schedules.

The airport is located just across the Potomac, beside the Pentagon, south and within sight of the capital's famous Mall that extends from Capitol Hill past the front of the White House. Security advisers to the President have warned that the closeness of the airport to the seat of government exposes them to a potential copycat attack with little time to react.

Under the new rules, the number of flights will be limited with a prohibition against flight patterns that would take planes near the White House, Capitol, Pentagon and CIA HQ at Langley, Virginia.

The airport will first open service to eight airports involving six airlines and will gradually expand.

Meanwhile, a major lobbying battle is looming over how the federal government should allow about 41,000 small private planes based around large cities back into the air.

Over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration posted a notice allowing flight lessons in major metropolitan areas, including solo flights by student pilots. But it is still illegal for experienced, licensed private pilots to fly solo under visual flight rules, which normally would allow pilots to fly during good weather without following specific air routes or being in contact with air-traffic controllers.

The restrictions have resulted in traffic levels at many municipal airports that are less than 5 per cent of what they were before September 11th, forcing many businesses that depend on general aviation to face the prospect of going out of business.