The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has a plan to revitalize Dulles International Airport by 2034, Airport Architecture reported. The plan is estimated to cost $22 billion.
This revitalization plan, which Airport Architecture says was shared with airlines earlier in May, would take an accelerated approach to MWAA’s master plan for Dulles. Under this plan, construction would begin this year and take about eight years. That’s significantly faster than the original master plan, which MWAA had estimated to take at least two decades.
The plan includes an expansion of the main terminal, four new linear concourses, and an expansion of the underground Aerotrain, which currently only serves two concourses. This expansion of the Aerotrain would also eliminate the airport’s mobile lounges (also known as people movers).
The plan would renovate Concourse A-B and rename it Concourse A; it would serve international flights, The Washington Business Journal reported. The temporary Concourse C-D would be demolished to make way for a new Concourse B, which would serve regional flights for United. And it would complete construction of a Concourse C — currently the under-construction Concourse E — to serve domestic and international flights for United. Concourse D would accommodate other domestic flights.
The main terminal, designed by architect Eero Saarinen, would be mostly preserved, with only a 300-foot expansion on the east and west sides and a “ticket counter renovation.”
This new plan comes shortly after President Donald Trump announced that he intended to reconstruct the airport. “We’re also going to rebuild Dulles airport because it’s not a good airport,” Trump said in December. “It should be a great airport, and it’s not a good airport at all. It’s a terrible airport.”
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
