The public may soon get a look at the multi-billion-dollar expansion proposal for Dulles International Airport.
Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), said Wednesday (July 15) that the internal plan had passed an important milestone.
“The airlines have concurred” with the proposal, Potter said at the organization’s bimonthly board meeting.
As a result, “we are putting final touches on this plan and are expecting a rollout in the next few weeks,” Potter said.
Prodded by the Trump administration, MWAA officials have been reworking their previously adopted long-term plan for Dulles Airport to speed improvements.
According to a report by Airports Architecture, estimates of the total cost have ranged up to and over $20 billion. That would be roughly triple the cost of the existing master plan.
“We embrace the [Trump] administration’s efforts to modernize the airport,” Potter said in briefly addressing the topic on July 15. He gave no indication of whether the plan would include ways to finance any fast-tracked improvements.
MWAA board members in mid-2025 adopted a master plan for airport growth that envisioned ultimately accommodating 90 million passengers per year — more than triple the current total. Airlines using Dulles agreed to the plan later last year.
Opened in 1962, the airport over the past two decades has seen sustained growth as a hub for United Airlines and through an increasing reliance on international service, which now totals about one-third of passenger service.
At the July 15 meeting, MWAA board members received an update on the new Concourse E, a midfield terminal slated to open in the fall to accommodate additional United service.
The authority, airline and contractors are working to have the concourse open on schedule, said Thomas Beatty, an executive vice president and the chief operating officer for MWAA.
No date has been set for opening, although the month of September has been floated. Current efforts are focused on outfitting interior spaces and to “find and fix problems” that develop, Beatty said.
The opening will come as the airport sees solid growth continuing, albeit not without some challenges.
Through May, the passenger count at Dulles was down about 2% year over year.
War-related restrictions on travel to and through the Middle East was one reason for the decline. The record level of traffic reported in 2025 was also boosted by United Airlines temporarily moving more service to Dulles to accommodate construction work at another hub, Newark-Liberty International.
Factoring out that additional United service last year, passenger counts at Dulles were up 0.7% for the first five months of 2026, said Chryssa Westerlund, an executive vice president and chief revenue officer at the authority.
Paul Bobson, MWAA’s vice president for airline business development, said he expects Dulles “will remain resilient through the second half of 2026.”
“We are working to keep our leading position,” he said.
But high fuel costs and consumer anxiety could be ongoing challenges for travel, Potter acknowledged.
“We are closely monitoring those situations,” he said.
For the first six months of the year, MWAA revenue at Dulles and Reagan National airports totaled $458.3 million, up 7.3% from the same period in 2025 and 2.6% above budget, according to figures reported to board members.
‘Dulles Day’ to be downscaled for 2026
Owing to ongoing Concourse E construction work, the annual Dulles Day festival will be downscaled for 2026, Potter said at yesterday’s
The traditional plane pull to raise funds for Special Olympics Virginia will take place on Saturday, Aug. 22, and the 5K/10K runway runs sponsored by the Washington Airports Task Force will occur Saturday, Aug. 29. But the community festival that usually is part Dulles Day will not occur this year.
“We thank everyone for their understanding,” Potter said.
Events also will take place earlier than their usual autumn time frame, in order to lessen the impact on work to get Concourse E ready for an expected September opening.
