From Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority:
“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors Wednesday approved a $15.5 billion addition to its capital construction budget to fund the transformation of Washington Dulles International Airport.
The board action expands a construction program already underway at Dulles, which is the nation’s fastest-growing international gateway airport, to modernize the 60-year-old airport for the future. The additional funding increases Dulles’ forward-looking construction budget to $19.9 billion over 15 years.
The effort will be funded primarily through bonds issued by the Airports Authority and repaid through normal rates and charges to airline tenants, as well as authority-generated revenue. No taxpayer money is designated for the initiative, unless government grants are made available to cover a portion of the costs.
The initiative to significantly expand the Dulles modernization plan was announced at the White House in July and will be led by the Airports Authority in partnership with United Airlines. The renovation program includes Concourse E, the first phase of which is under construction and is expected to open this fall. The next major construction packages will enlarge the historic Main Terminal and then add new concourses and other facilities.
Additional landside projects, which are anticipated to be funded through other methods, are not part of the board-approved package and will be addressed separately. Slides presented in the board meeting on Wednesday reflect cost and time estimates for projects, which will need to be refined after contractors are hired to design and construct the new facilities.
In his remarks to the board, Airports Authority President and CEO Jack Potter addressed erroneous speculation that Dulles passengers would pay a $90 charge on airline tickets to fund construction. The speculation is based on an earlier estimate of Dulles Airport’s “cost per enplanement,” which is an airport industry metric that is not added to airline ticket prices. Through negotiations with airlines, that estimate is now in the $60 to $65 range, which would not be reached until nine to 10 years in the future as new projects are added to the airport’s cost structure.
In a discussion to “set the record straight,” Potter emphasized that no line-item charge reflecting “cost per enplanement” will appear on airline tickets and explained that airlines base their fares on factors such as market conditions and consumer demand. No airport fees appear on tickets beyond a $4.50 “passenger facility charge” authorized by Congress decades ago for airports across the country.
The full scope of the approved Dulles modernization project includes five major “packages” designed to add new infrastructure and renovate current facilities in phases over time to match the growth in consumer demand and evolving airline business needs.
The first phase, called “Package A,” will expand the airport’s historic Main Terminal, upgrade ticketing areas, create new TSA and U.S. Customs facilities, build a walkable connector between the Main Terminal and the current A/B Concourse and add international gates to the Main Terminal. A “request for qualifications” currently underway will narrow the interested respondents to three qualified design firms that will submit proposals, with contract award expected by the end of 2026 and construction expected to begin in 2027.
Other construction packages include extending the AeroTrain system to serve new facilities, enabling the eventual retirement of the mobile lounges, and building a tunnel through the center of the airport connecting all concourses for baggage and passenger transit; extending the current Concourse E; building a new concourse for domestic flights near the current Air Traffic Control tower; and building a concourse for regional flights on the site of the current C/D Concourse.
More information about the Dulles transformation project, including conceptual renderings, is available here.
About the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport, the U.S. Capital Region’s gateways to the nation and the world, serving more than 200 nonstop global destinations. With more than 50 million passengers per year, the two-airport system generates more than $20 billion of annual economic output and supports more than 200,000 regional jobs. The Airports Authority also operates the Dulles Airport Access Highway and the Dulles Toll Road, which form the centerpiece of a major transportation and business corridor in Northern Virginia. In addition, the Authority managed construction and financing for the 23-mile Silver Line extension of the region’s Metrorail public transit system, providing direct rail service between Dulles and downtown Washington, D.C.”