Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) officials continue to refine plans that would see major reconfiguration of terminals and other changes at Washington Dulles International Airport to accommodate growth over the coming two decades.
The latest ideas were detailed during an Oct. 11 master-planning session held at the airport, accompanied by a 29-page document giving a glimpse of current thinking.
Among the key takeaways:
• Under the proposal, the existing 130 aircraft gates would rise to 150 or more, with several terminal concourses demolished and replaced/repositioned. Three different design proposals for placement of the concourses have been made public.
• Current expectations are the historic main terminal would increase in size by 400,000 square feet (to 1.9 million), and while concourse space elsewhere would rise from an existing 1.8 million to 2.8 million square feet.
• The airport would add a fifth runway, although the timing remains speculative.
Dulles reported 12.3 million enplanements in calendar-year 2019, the last before COVID. Three separate projections peg 2045 passenger enplanements at between 17 million and 22 million.
The report also looks at cargo operations and general aviation, as well as options for developing land around Dulles owned by the Airports Authority.
To see the report, go to https://bit.ly/3LZ4dSm.
