Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) opened on June 16, 1941, built on dredged land at Gravelly Point along the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, just south of the District of Columbia. President Franklin D. Roosevelt championed its construction after years of congressional deadlock, and the airport replaced the inadequate Washington-Hoover Airport that had operated nearby. It was the first federally funded, federally built commercial airport in the United States.

For most of its history it was simply known as National Airport. On February 6, 1998, President Bill Clinton signed legislation renaming it Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The airport is an American Airlines hub and operates under 2 significant federal constraints: a slot rule capping operations at roughly 60 to 67 per hour, and a perimeter rule limiting nonstop service to destinations within 1,250 miles of Washington, D.C. Congress has granted limited exemptions to the perimeter rule, allowing nonstop flights to cities including Los Angeles, Denver, and Seattle. The airport's location, adjacent to restricted P-56 airspace near the Pentagon, requires precise approach and departure procedures, including the curved River Visual approach along the Potomac on Runway 19.

The airport's dominant architectural feature is the Cesar Pelli-designed Terminal B/C, which opened July 27, 1997. Its 54 Jeffersonian-style domes reference the civic architecture of Washington across the river, and floor-to-ceiling glass offers direct views of the Potomac and the city skyline. A Metro station connected directly to the terminal has served passengers since 1977, making DCA one of the few major U.S. airports with direct rapid-transit access to a city center. The airport's proximity to the capital, both geographic and political, defines everything about how it operates.