Building on recent successes, destinations in Africa and Asia remain prime targets for new business opportunities, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) officials say.
But finding new opportunities necessitated nuance and persistence, said Paul Bobson, the authority’s vice president for airline business development.
Finalizing service agreements with Asian carriers “requires the development of trusting relationships,” Bobson said at the July 15 meeting of MWAA’s strategic development committee.
At the meeting, he provided updates on new international service at Dulles International Airport.
In Asia, the authority has focused recent efforts on South Korea and Taiwan, with each bearing success.
Air Premia inaugurated service between Seoul and Dulles in April, providing flights four days per week on 320-passenger Boeing 787 aircraft. Service is “off to a strong start” in terms of both passengers and cargo, Bobson said.
Several carriers already provided service between Dulles and South Korea, but Air Premia was “ideal for a new entrant” because it focuses on economy and premium-economy service classes, Bobson said.
Additionally, EVA Air began service last month connecting Dulles and Taipei, Taiwan. The Korean airline is operating flights four days per week on Boeing 787 aircraft in a three-class configuration.
According to MWAA Chief Revenue Officer Chryssa Westerlund , Dulles competed against Boston’s Logan Airport to land the EVA Air service. She credited MWAA’s “passionate and persistent” efforts for helping to tip the scales.
The new service followed on the heels of a memorandum of understanding signed last September between MWAA and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, EVA Air’s hub and the major airport serving Taipei.
The agreement has both airports pledging to work together on promotional activities.
Both the joint agreement and new EVA Air service attracted a level of media interest “we haven’t really seen for a long time” from an international destination, Bobson said.
The airport will serve as “an ideal connecting point” for passengers traveling on to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and other Asian destination, MWAA officials said.
Building on success in Africa
Passenger counts between Dulles and African nations have increased 41% since 2022, with airfare revenue up 88%, MWAA officials said at the meeting.
Currently, Dulles Airport offers nonstop service to seven African destinations:
- Lomé, Togo
- Accra, Ghana
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Cairo, Egypt
In an effort to increase knowledge of Dulles among African carriers and airports, MWAA personnel in June attended the AriaDev Africa, a three-day aviation conference held in Botswana.
The authority was one of four platinum sponsors of the event, joining aircraft manufacturers Airbus, Boeing and Embraer.
In marketing materials for the conference, MWAA noted that the Washington region has the largest expatriate African community in the U.S., outpacing New York City.
The D.C. region is the U.S. metro area with the most residents born in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Togo and Sudan, and it’s home to the second largest populations of those born in Ghana, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Senegal.
At the top of MWAA’s wish list for future African service is Nairobi, Kenya.
“There’s plenty more out there for us to bring to Washington,” Bobson said.
At the July 15 meeting, MWAA board chair Mark Unchapher of Maryland praised airline development staff for a “data-driven approach” to addressing unserved areas across the globe.
Kate Hanley, an MWAA board member representing Virginia, said the business development team adds a personal touch to its efforts that should not be discounted in a business that often relies on relationship-building.
The team “engenders enthusiasm in ways I cannot even begin to describe,” she said. “It’s infectious.”
“We definitely have a passion for what we do,” replied Bobson, who was recruited to lead MWAA’s business development efforts in 2022.
International service now accounts for more than one-third of all passengers traveling through Dulles, which hosted a record 10.53 million passengers on international flights in 2025.
