Ongoing growth in international travel helped propel Dulles International Airport to a record-setting year in 2025.
Officials with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) will not have confirmed final passenger counts until late February or March, but the authority’s president and CEO, Jack Potter, said the expectation is for a 6% increase from the record year in 2024.
A building exclusively for diplomatic visits, an autonomous shuttle system and a conversion of its distinctive main terminal into a museum are just some of the changes that could be in store for Dulles International Airport.
The U.S. Department of Transportation requested proposals in early December for ways to “revitalize” the airport on the Fairfax/Loudoun county border, claiming that it’s in “a state of disrepair” and already-planned renovations are “insufficient” for a global gateway to the nation’s capital.
Northern Virginia political leaders have reacted coolly to President Donald Trump’s criticisms of Dulles International Airport and his calls for a major rebuilding project there.
Trump called the airport “terrible” and suggested it was “incorrectly designed” during a Dec. 2 Cabinet meeting. Hours later, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it would seek proposals for new terminals and concourses to replace or enhance the facility, which straddles the Fairfax and Loudoun line.
Dulles International Airport has emerged as the latest target of President Donald Trump’s bid to remake the architecture of the nation’s capital.
Even as the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) pursues billions of dollars in capital projects, including a new concourse slated to open next fall, the U.S. Department of Transportation began soliciting proposals yesterday (Tuesday) from developers, architects and engineers to redesign airport just outside Fairfax County.
People movers will continue darting across Dulles International Airport for years to come, despite recent incidents that have revived safety questions for passengers who use them.
At the Nov. 19 meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board of directors, MWAA President and CEO Jack Potter acknowledged the “long-term limitations of relying on mobile lounges,” which are colloquially known as people movers.
Airlines at a growing Dulles International Airport will see higher operating costs in 2026 under a new budget adopted Nov. 19 by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).
The $889.5 million package, adopted unanimously by the authority’s board of directors, estimates that the “cost per enplanement” at Dulles will rise from the $11.17 budgeted in 2025 to $12.77 in 2026 — an increase of about 14%.
More than a dozen people have been taken to a hospital after a mobile lounge crashed while docking at Dulles International Airport.
The vehicle, also known as a people mover, was pulling into Concourse D around 4:30 p.m. today (Monday) when it “struck the dock at an angle,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) said.
A key advisory panel has signed off on a proposal aimed at spreading out flight corridors departing to and arriving from the south at Reagan National Airport.
The plan, which now heads to local governments and ultimately the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), could provide relief for those living in a swath of southern Fairfax County that currently bears the brunt of aircraft noise in the corridor.
Fairfax County leaders continue to push the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to fund an outside analysis of aircraft noise’s impact on neighborhoods along the flight path at Reagan National Airport.
“This is merely asking MWAA to do what a whole lot of other airports across the country have done,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said on Sept. 30, when supervisors unanimously approved making the request of MWAA CEO Jack Potter.
Some existing mobile lounges at Dulles International Airport have been operating since John F. Kennedy was president in the mid-20th century, and with proper care, airport officials hope to keep them in service until almost the middle of the 21st century.
The iconic transportation equipment is a critical part of airport operations and “will remain essential for the next 15 to 20 years,” Thomas Beatty, chief operations officer for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), told the agency’s board of directors last Wednesday (Sept. 17).
