Anonymous wrote:I don't understand, how are the runways so short that they can't support wide body jets. I see jets land on them all the time.
Wide-body = multiple aisles
Narrow-body = single aisle
The main runway at DCA is +/- 7,100 ft
A 737 requires minimum 5,300 to 6,700 foot length (depending on type)
A 787 (the wide-body with the shortest min runway length) needs 8,300
Technically an Airbus A330 could get down to about 7,000 ft so maybe someone enterprising would try that. And before someone shouts out "But an L1011 crashed" yes they used to fly those in and out of DCA, and they were at the bare minimum for runway requirements and had to load carefully to get weights right.