Less than a year after adopting a new master plan for Dulles International Airport, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is considering an update that would expand the facility’s main terminal, redesign its concourses and eliminate the polarizing mobile lounges.
Shared with airlines earlier in May, the proposed revitalization plan would cost an estimated $22 billion with an ambitious targeted completion date of 2034, according to the Substack-based newsletter Airport Architecture, which says it obtained an exclusive copy of MWAA’s presentation.
In comparison, the existing Dulles master plan approved by MWAA’s board on July 16 outlines $7 billion in capital improvement projects expected to be implemented through the end of this century, when the airport is projected to reach 90 million passengers.
The revised approach appears to have been developed in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation, which recently solicited dozens of proposals for projects to “revitalize” Dulles Airport after President Donald Trump lamented that the facility was “terrible” and “incorrectly designed” during a Dec. 2 cabinet meeting.
“The Airports Authority is awaiting an official announcement of the government’s decision on plans to enhance Washington Dulles International Airport, after which we can further discuss this important initiative,” an MWAA spokesperson said in a statement that was also shared with Airport Architecture and the Washington Business Journal.
When the announcement might be expected is anyone’s guess, including MWAA’s.
“[We’re] just waiting to hear!” the spokesperson told FFXnow.
USDOT didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
According to Airport Architecture, the proposed redevelopment will retain architect Eero Saarinen’s distinctive design for Dulles Airport’s main terminal, which opened in 1962. However, the building would be expanded to the east and west by 300 feet, and a renovation of the check-in counters is on the table.
Combined with the addition of a new terminal concourse and a renovation of Concourse A (currently designated as Concourse A/B), which would be linked to the main terminal via an above-ground connector, that phase of the plan would cost $6.2 billion with construction potentially starting in April 2027.
The plan also calls for the demolition of the existing Concourse C/D and its replacement with a new Concourse B for 33 gates for United Airlines’ regional flights, a $2.26 billion undertaking that could begin construction in January 2028, Airport Architecture reported.
The incoming Concourse E, which has been under construction since 2024 and remains on track to open this fall, would be renamed Concourse C. Serving United’s international flights, the terminal’s full build-out would be accelerated, potentially finishing by December 2030 instead of 2045, as projected by the existing master plan.
The Dulles master plan currently splits the development of the terminal — identified as Tier 2 — into three phases, starting with the new Concourse E and eventually including additional gates “to meet current and forecast demand deficiencies,” an extension of the airport’s AeroTrain and the demolition of the existing Concourses C and D.
According to Airport Architecture, the proposed accelerated build-out will include a new AeroTrain station and cost $4 billion, though it’s unclear if that total includes the nearly completed Concourse E.
Other elements of the new plan include:
- Build-out of a new Concourse D for non-United domestic flights, with construction starting on the east gates for $3.7 billion in June 2027
- An extension of the underground AeroTrain from Concourse A to the new Concourse D, which would also be connected by a “subterranean central spine.” The $3.75 billion project could start construction in January 2028 with a targeted finish by December 2033.
Per Airport Architecture, the renovations would ultimately expand the airport’s AeroTrain system to all terminals, rendering the mobile lounges, also known as people movers, obsolete.
MWAA already anticipated phasing out the mobile lounges as its development plans progressed, but officials said the vehicles would likely remain in use for the next 15 to 20 years, despite safety and efficiency concerns. Operating in some cases since Dulles opened in the 1960s, the mobile lounges still make as many as 800 daily trips around the airport, transporting passengers between the main terminal and the concourses.
MWAA Chief Operations Officer Thomas Beatty told the authority’s board last September that a prototype of an updated mobile lounge was expected to be delivered to Dulles for review in late 2026. The MWAA board had approved a $160 million contract in 2023 with a Pennsylvania firm for complete overhauls of existing mobile lounges.
According to Airport Architecture, MWAA’s presentation on the new revitalization plan indicates that the project will be funded with $21.8 billion in new bonds and $1.1 billion in airport fees, sums that include inflation and future interest payments.
