Joe Rogalsky, The Examiner
2007-05-03 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Parking spaces will be a hot commodity at Ronald Reagan National Airport this summer, officials warned this week.

The airport wants passengers to check its Web site (www.mwaa.com) or call 703-417-PARK to get up-to-the-minute information on parking availability or plan to take taxis or Metrorail instead. Airport officials are concerned that passengers will spend more time than they had planned searching for a parking space, which leads to a late check-in and possibly missing or delaying flights.

From now until the summer vacation ends, the airport’s daily parking garages tend to fill up on weekdays while the economy lots reach capacity on weekends.

“The last thing we want to happen is that any of our customers get to the airport and can’t find a parking place and be in danger of missing their flight,” airport spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said. “Parking will be very tight.”

Reagan National has about 8,500 parking spaces, 230 of which are reserved for the airport’s valet service. As of 2 p.m. Wednesday the airport had 650 non-valet spaces open, 612 of which were in the economy lot.

The other two major airports in the region — Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport — do not anticipate parking shortages. Dulles has 25,000 spaces and BWI has 30,000.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com