The combined overall passenger count at the local region’s two main airports stood slightly above pre-pandemic levels, according to new data, but one of the two facilities needs one last push to get past the COVID-induced slowdown.
But by the time 2023 comes to an end, it’s possible that the current laggard may come out on top.
Between them, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport served 24 million commercial passengers for the January-to-June period, according to figures reported by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
That’s up 2.1 percent from the 23.5 million passengers during the same period in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic swept in.
The success, however, was slightly uneven:
• The 12.4 million passengers at Reagan National represented an increase from the 11.8 million recorded during the first six months of 2019.
• The 11.6 million passengers at Dulles represented a slight decline from 11.7 million recorded in 2019.
Officials with the airports authority, which operates National and Dulles, are anticipating that the latter will be catching up to 2019 if it has not already.
“Dulles had a fantastic month for passenger travel” in August, Chryssa Westerlund, the authority’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer, told authority board members on Sept. 20.
That is being buoyed by international travel, where the airport is slated to end 2023 with more than 2,300 more international flights than it had in 2019 – the largest increase in the nation.
At National, however, a recent decision by the Federal Aviation Administration to extend a waiver of rules requiring airlines to use or lose their take-off and landing slots may cut into projected passenger growth.
That waiver, originally set to expire this month, was extended a year to address congestion and air-traffic-control issues in the Washington-to-New-York air corridor.
What will the impact on passenger counts be at Reagan National? “We’ll have to wait and see,” said authority president/CEO Jack Potter.
Compared to the first six months of 2022, passenger activity was up 11.4 percent at Reagan National and 20.2 percent at Dulles.
At Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, which is owned by the Maryland state government, the passenger total for the first six months of 2023 stood at 12.4 million, down from 12.8 million during the first six months of 2019.
Local Airports to Offer More Availability to End Year Than in Pre-COVID Era: All three commercial airports serving the Washington area will have more available airline seats in the fourth quarter of 2023 than they did during the same period in 2019.
That’s according to the Airlines For America trade group, which reports that 31 of the nation’s 47 largest airports will see increases in seat availability compared to the last autumn of the pre-COVID era.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will have the largest increase locally, at 5.2 percent more seats. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall will follow at 3.5 percent, with Washington Dulles International Airport seeing an increase of 1.7 percent.
Figures are from Diio by Cirium and are based on published schedules as of Sept. 16.
Of the 47 largest, the airport serving Austin, Texas, will have the highest increase in seats from four years ago, at 40.3 percent, followed by Nashville (32.6%) and Charleston, S.C. (28.2%).
At the other end of the spectrum, the airport serving San Jose, Calif., is reporting a decline of 23 percent in seat availability, followed by Chicago-O’Hare (13.5%) and Philadelphia (12.5%).
In the next tier of airports – the 48th through 99th largest – the biggest 2023-over-2019 seat jump will be in Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla., up a whopping 99.3 percent.
Runway Repaving at National Ahead of Schedule: It adds up fast: 800 tons today, 800 tons tomorrow, 800 tons the next day, and so on and so forth.
That’s how much asphalt is being laid on a nightly basis as efforts to upgrade pavements on Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s major runway roll ahead until cooler weather conditions call a halt through early next spring.
“We’re ahead of schedule,” said Jack Potter, president/CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, noting that 1.5 million tons of asphalt has already been laid as part of a project that began in April and is taking place during the overnight hours.
It is a “nightly race against time” to keep the work moving while having the runways ready for the first arrivals at 6 a.m., Potter said at the authority’s Sept. 20 board meeting.
The project requires placing 8 inches of new asphalt on the airport’s main runway (designated 1-19) and a secondary runway (15-33), as well as the intersection of 1-19 with the airport’s third runway (4-22). When the project recommences in 2024, another 2 inches will be added.
The foundation, however, will remain in place – as it has since the airport opened in 1941. Authority officials say it is in good shape.
Owing to the work, National currently has a nightly curfew on aircraft movements beginning at 11 p.m. Any flights that can’t meet the deadline owing to unanticipated delays either have to be canceled or, in the case of arriving flights, divert to other airports.
Tim Poole, an authority board member representing Maryland, recently spent a night observing milling and paving operations.
“It’s absolutely fascinating to watch this project unfold,” he said. “It’s a well-oiled machine. It will blow your mind.”
Runway 1-19 has been determined to be the nation’s busiest runway in terms of daily operations, something authority officials have used in an attempt to stave off congressional action to increase flights at the mostly slot-controlled airport.
Celebration to Mark Millionth Passenger to Use Airport’s Silver Line Station: No word yet on what the lucky duck gets in terms of gifts (if any), but the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is getting ready to welcome the one-millionth passenger who arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport by way of the airport station on the Silver Line.
“We’re going to celebrate – we’re trying to figure out the exact day,” authority president/CEO Jack Potter said. He pegged early October as when the threshold will be surpassed.
“If you need a millionth . . . just call me and I’ll ride over real quick,” chuckled authority board member Kate Hanley, a Virginia appointee to the body.
The Washington Dulles station was one of six that opened last November, extending the Silver Line from Reston west to Ashburn and wrapping up a 23-mile extension project that began in 2009.
Airport Now Offering Retire-in-2070 Fund for Staff: Time marches on, and now the younger staff on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority have an option that will help them plan for eventual retirement nearly five decades into the future.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s human-resources committee on Sept. 20 authorized participation in a Vanguard fund for those expecting to retire around 2070.
The authority already offers such plans for those with expected retirement dates of 2030 to 2060.
Such date-specific funds generally rebalance themselves over time, starting with a higher concentration of stocks in the portfolio to take advantage of a long-term perspective and, as time marches on, moving into securities like bonds, which have less short-term volatility.
