WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- White House officials on Monday were considering a limited re-opening of Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the Potomac River from Washington.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer called the airport "unique" because of its proximity to the White House, Pentagon and other federal government buildings.
The airport has remained closed since suicide hijackers commandeered four commercial passenger airliners and crashed two of them into World Trade Center. A third plane was flown into the Pentagon, severely damaging part of the building. A fourth jet crashed in Pennsylvania.
"Closure of the airport has cost the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, which operates National and Dulles International Airport, $400,000 a day," authority spokeswoman Tara Hamilton told United Press International.
Hamilton said revenues generated from businesses, rents, and landing fees are used to cover the airport's operating costs.
"The authority's 400 employees at National are doing maintenance work getting ready for when the airport does reopen," she said.
More than 10,000 people work at National airport, including 6,000 airline employees and 4,000 who work for the various businesses connected with the airport. When the airport is open, 45,000 passengers pass through National each day on 900 flights.
Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said it was important to have government officials fly out of National and set an example for the country that air travel is safe.
"I think we can make it absolutely safe. And in fact, I don't think you can feel safe in any other airport in the country until National is open," Davis said. "If you can't make National safe, if that is the perception coming from the White House, how can you feel safe anywhere else? So I think we need to open it quickly. We need to resolve the security demands. I think we can do that."
White House officials say President Bush wants to see the airport reopened, but security is a primary concern since most of the flights into and out of the facility come within a few miles of key government installations.
The flight that crashed into the Pentagon originated from Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, minutes away by air.
"The president would like us to get National Airport, or Ronald Reagan Airport, opened as quickly as we can," said White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card on Fox News Sunday. "But we have to be sensitive to the security concerns not only for the passengers who go through Ronald Reagan Airport, but also for the residents of Washington, D.C."
Card said he was optimistic that the right balance between security and economic opportunity could be found in reopening the airport.
"And we'll be striving hard to meet those challenges," Card said, adding that the question that remained was how quickly it would reopen and under what circumstances.
