SpaceX tells the FAA it plans 10,000 launches a year and that air traffic rules, not rockets, are now the bottleneck

In a 26 October comment on the FAA's request for information on new spaceports and priority launch corridors (docket FAA-2026-9736), SpaceX says it anticipates conducting 10,000 launches a year itself, against 182 licensed US launches and 7 reentries in 2025, and that its planned Starbase, Louisiana, site is designed for about 30 launches and reentries a day. It calls the FAA's air traffic processes outdated and asks for corridors with airspace priority, 48-hour automatic approval and fee waivers, pointing to its Cleared airspace tool, which it says most major US airlines get free. Airlines for America warned in the same docket of serious impacts on airline operations.