Dulles International Airport
38°56′40″N 077°27′21″W / 38.94444°N 77.45583°W
Washington Dulles International Airport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Dulles Airport Terminal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Washington Metropolitan Area | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Dulles, Virginia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 313 ft / 95 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www.mwaa.com/dulles/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Washington Dulles International Airport (IATA: IAD, ICAO: KIAD, FAA LID: IAD) is a public airport located 25 miles (40 km) west of the central business district of Washington, D.C., in Dulles, Virginia[2] (Loudoun County and Fairfax County, Virginia, United States).[1] It serves the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The airport is named after John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is a major hub for United Airlines and a focus city for JetBlue Airways.
United Airlines/United Express is by far the largest airline at the airport, carrying 61.5% of passengers; JetBlue is the second largest, carrying 6.4% of passengers; and American Airlines/American Connection is the third largest, carrying 4.1% of the passengers in 2007.[3]
On a typical day, 1,000 to 1200 flights are now handled at Dulles.[citation needed] The inception of low-cost carrier Independence Air in 2004 propelled IAD from being the 24th busiest airport in the United States to 4th, and one of the top 30 busiest in the world. At its peak of 600 flights daily, Independence (combined with service from JetBlue and AirTran) briefly made Dulles the largest low-cost hub in the United States. Southwest Airlines began service in fall 2006 after Independence Air's demise. The airport no longer ranks as one of the world's 30 busiest in terms of number of passengers; it ranked 29th in 2006 in traffic movements. In 2007, Dulles saw 24.7 million passengers through the airport.[4]
The airport occupies approximately 13500 acres (54 km²) of land,[citation needed] straddling the border of Fairfax County and Loudoun County, Virginia. It is located within two unincorporated communities, Chantilly and Dulles. The airport is west of Herndon and southwest of Sterling. Dulles airport is operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).
History and background
At the end of World War II, growth in aviation and in the Washington metropolitan area led Congress to pass the Washington Airport Act of 1950, providing federal backing for a second airport. After preliminary proposals failed, including one to establish an international airport at what is now Burke Lake Park, the current site was selected by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958. As a result of the selection, the former unincorporated community of Willard, which stood where the airport now is, was torn down.
The civil engineering firm Ammann and Whitney was named lead contractor. The airport was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on November 17, 1962. Its original name, Dulles International Airport, was changed in 1984 to Washington Dulles International Airport.[5] The main terminal was designed in 1958 by famed Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and it is highly regarded for its graceful beauty, suggestive of flight. The original terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan was modeled after the Saarinen terminal at Dulles. Dulles was the first airport in the world specifically designed for jet aircraft, and many of its architectural features were experimental at the time. Mobile lounges that brought passengers directly from aircraft to the terminal were supposed to be the wave of the future, but this innovation was not widely duplicated throughout the world at later airports; the airport authority plans to retire the mobile lounge system altogether in favor of an underground people mover and pedestrian walkway system (now in service to concourse B), as part of a major engineering program that will also add a concourse to the main terminal and give the airport a fourth runway. Some of the airport's other innovations, such as the midfield terminal and extra-long runways, were designed with a future role as a spaceport in mind.
Although designed for jet planes, the first flight was an Eastern Air Lines Super Electra turboprop, arriving from Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Initially considered to be a white elephant due to its limited flight destinations in the 1960s and its 26-mile distance from downtown Washington, Dulles has steadily grown at the same time that suburbs of the city grew along the Dulles Technology Corridor and the Capital Beltway. Restrictions placed on flights arriving at and departing from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport have meant that most long-distance flights to the area must fly to Dulles or Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland.
The era of jumbo jets in international aviation began on January 15, 1970, when First Lady Pat Nixon christened a Pan Am Boeing 747 at Dulles in the presence of Pan Am chairman Najeeb Halaby. Red, white, and blue water was sprayed on the aircraft, rather than breaking a bottle of champagne. The first Boeing 747 flight on Pan Am from Dulles was to London Heathrow.
Another milestone in aviation took place on May 24, 1976, when supersonic air travel commenced between Dulles and Europe. On that day, a British Airways Concorde flew in from London and an Air France Concorde arrived from Paris. The sleek aircraft lined up at Dulles nose-to-nose for a photo opportunity.
On June 13, 1983, the Space Shuttle Enterprise "landed" at Dulles atop a modified Boeing 747 after completing a European tour and prior to returning to Edwards AFB. In 1985, the Enterprise was placed in a storage hangar near Runway 12/30 pending the construction of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
During the 1980s, a United States Senate resolution to change the name of Washington Dulles to Washington Eisenhower was defeated.
When the SR-71 was retired by the military in 1990, one was flown from its birthplace at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California to Dulles, where it was placed in a special storage building pending the construction of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, setting a coast-to-coast speed record at an average 2,124 mph (3,418 km/h). The entire trip took 64 minutes.[6]
The inaugural flight of the Boeing 777 in commercial service, a United Airlines flight from London Heathrow, landed at Dulles in 1995.
In December 2003, the National Air and Space Museum opened at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles. The museum annex houses an Air France Concorde, the Enola Gay B-29, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Boeing 367-80, which was the prototype of the Boeing 707, and other famous aerospace artifacts, particularly those too large for the main building on the National Mall.
On April 19, 2006, United Express began moving its operations from Concourse G to Concourse A. The latter was formerly used by the now-defunct Independence Air, which ceased operations on January 6, 2006. The transition was completed on May 1, 2006.[7]
In 2007, Dulles saw much international growth with new flights by Aer Lingus (Dublin), Copa Airlines (Panama City), Iberia (Madrid), Qatar Airways (Doha), and United Airlines (Beijing, Rome-Fiumicino). Other airlines have expressed interest in flying to Dulles. Air China and Turkish Airlines have confirmed new flights (to Beijing and Istanbul, respectively) but have not given start dates.[citation needed] Air Peru and Virgin Nigeria have also announced their intention to fly to Dulles, and Air India plans to launch new Mumbai–Munich–Washington flights by 2009.[citation needed] Other possible airlines include Air One, Carribean Airlines, Emirates Airline, and Jet Airways.[citation needed] Aerosur is also interested in flying to Washington to replace Lloyd Aereo Boliviano's former flights.[citation needed]
Planned development
 |
As Dulles expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, operations outgrew the main terminal and new midfield concourses were constructed, using mobile lounges to bring passengers to the main terminal. An underground tunnel (consisting of a passenger walkway and moving sidewalks) which links the main terminal and concourse B was opened in 2004. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) began a renovation program for the airport, to include a new security mezzanine to help relieve the heavily congested security lines that are familiar to passengers traveling through the airport. There will also be a new train system, dubbed "AeroTrain", which is currently being developed by Mitsubishi.[citation needed] The system, which uses rubber tires and travels along a fixed guideway, is similar to the people mover systems at Miami's airport and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.[citation needed] The train is intended to replace the mobile lounges, which many passengers find crowded and congested. Dulles has stated that the wait time for a train will not exceed two minutes, compared to the average 15 minute wait and travel time for mobile lounges today. The train system in Phase One will include a main terminal station, a permanent Concourse B station, temporary access to the temporary C&D concourses, and a maintenance facility. Final-phase development would see the addition of several new midfield concourses and a new south terminal. Also, under the development plan, two new runways are being constructed to address increasing flight traffic and an expansion of the B concourse, which is used by many low cost airlines as well as international arrivals. The "Midfield Concourses" (C and D) mainly house United Airlines, and will be knocked down to make room for a more ergonomic building.[citation needed]
Terminals
The main terminal houses ticketing, baggage claim, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Z gates, and other support facilities. From here, passengers can take mobile lounges to their concourses, "plane mates" directly to their airplanes, or take the passenger walkway to concourse B. The plane mates are also used to transport passengers arriving on international flights directly to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection center located in the main terminal.
Mobile lounges
Dulles is one of the few remaining airports to use the "mobile lounge" system for boarding and disembarkation from aircraft. The "lounge" consists of a 54-by-16-foot carriage mounted on a scissor truck, capable of carrying 102 passengers. They were designed by the Chrysler Corporation in association with the Budd Company. The conveyances are sometimes nicknamed "moon buggies" for the similar appearance of their tires with those of the Lunar Rover.
The "Plane Mate" is an evolutionary variation on the concept. They are similar in appearance to mobile lounges, but can raise themselves on screws (parts of which are contained in a pair of fin-like towers above the vehicles) to "mate" directly with an aircraft. This allows passengers to deplane directly aboard and be carried to the main terminal. They are easily identified by the different window configuration and two short columns on the roof with red beacons mounted on the top.
By shuttling from the main terminal directly to a midfield jet ramp, passengers could avoid long walking distances amidst weather, noise, and fumes on the ramp. But the advent of the jet bridge and construction of the midfield concourses diluted the system's advantages.
Today, the airport uses 19 mobile lounges to transfer passengers between the midfield concourses and to and from the main terminal building, as well as 30 plane mates. They have all been given names based on the postal abbreviations of 50 states, e.g.: VA, MD, AK The MWAA plans to retire the mobile lounge system for inter-terminal passenger movements in favor of an underground people mover and pedestrian walkway system (now in service to concourse B). However, some plane mates will remain in use to disembark international passengers and carry them to the International Arrivals Building, as well as to convey passengers to and from aircraft on hard stand (i.e., those parked remotely on the tarmac without access to jet bridges).[8][9]
Main terminal
The main terminal was recognized by the American Institute of Architects in 1966 for its design concept; its roof is a suspended catenary providing a wide enclosed area unimpeded by any columns. It houses ticketing, baggage claim, and information facilities, as well as the International Arrivals Building for passenger processing.
Although the original design is still intact, the increase in low-cost carriers and increased security requirements have caused functional problems, with long lines at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints and crowded conditions in the once more-than-adequate ticketing area occurring during peak periods. During busy travel seasons, the checkpoint line can wrap around the entire ticketing area. In these instances, getting from the end of the line to the front can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes.[citation needed] Separate security screening lines allow "premium passengers" to move through security faster.
There are two sets of gates in the main terminal: waiting areas for airlines which lack permanent physical gates and therefore use Plane Mates, and also the "Z" Gates, which provide service for US Airways.
"Z" Gates
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| US Airways | Charlotte, Phoenix, San Juan [seasonal] |
| US Airways Express operated by Mesa Airlines | Charlotte |
| US Airways Express operated by PSA Airlines | Charlotte |
Midfield terminals
There are two midfield terminal buildings: One contains the A and B Midfield Concourses, another the C and D Midfield Concourses. The C and D Concourses, completed in 1983, were designed to be a temporary home for United Airlines, which began hub operations at the airport in 1995 (after a controversial pull-out of its hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport). Their replacements are under development. The G Concourse, built as a temporary location for United Express flights, has been demolished. The B Concourse is the first of the permanent Midfield Concourses.
Midfield Concourse A
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| United Airlines | |
| United Express operated by Chautauqua Airlines | Boston, Buffalo, Columbus (OH), Greensboro, Indianapolis, New Orleans, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Toronto-Pearson |
| United Express operated by Colgan Air | Allentown/Bethlehem, Altoona, Beckley, Binghamton, Charleston (WV), Charlottesville, Clarksburg, Johnstown, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Shenandoah Valley, State College (PA), White Plains) |
| United Express operated by GoJet Airlines | Kansas City, Norfolk, Portland (ME), Providence, Rochester (NY), San Antonio, Syracuse |
| United Express operated by Mesa Airlines | Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Burlington (VT), Charleston (SC), Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbia (SC), Detroit, Greenville/Spartanburg, Harrisburg, Hartford/Springfield, Houston-Intercontinental, Huntsville, Jacksonville (FL), Kansas City, Manchester (NH), Myrtle Beach, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Raleigh/Durham, Roanoke, Rochester (NY), Savannah |
| United Express operated by Shuttle America | Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Halifax, Hartford/Springfield, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Montréal, New Orleans, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Pittsburgh, Rochester (NY), Toronto-Pearson |
| United Express operated by Trans States Airlines | Albany, Birmingham (AL) [begins March 29], Burlington (VT), Charleston (SC), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Dayton, Detroit, Greenville/Spartanburg, Harrisburg, Knoxville, Manchester (NH), Newark, Philadelphia, Providence, Richmond, Roanoke, St. Louis, Syracuse |
Midfield Concourse B
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aer Lingus | Dublin |
| Aeroflot | Moscow-Sheremetyevo |
| AirTran Airways | Atlanta, Orlando |
| Air China | Beijing [begins March 2009][10] |
| Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle |
| All Nippon Airways | Tokyo-Narita |
| American Airlines | Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami |
| AmericanConnection operated by Trans States Airlines | St. Louis |
| Austrian Airlines | Vienna |
| Avianca | Bogotá |
| Cayman Airways | Grand Cayman [seasonal] |
| Continental Airlines | Cleveland |
| Continental Connection operated by Colgan Air | Newark |
| Continental Connection operated by CommutAir | Newark |
| Continental Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines | Newark |
| Copa Airlines | Panama City |
| Delta Air Lines | Atlanta, Cancún, Salt Lake City |
| Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines | Atlanta |
| Delta Connection operated by Comair | Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, New York-JFK |
| TACA | San Salvador, Guatemala City |
| Iberia Airlines | Madrid |
| JetBlue Airways | Boston, Cancùn, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers [seasonal], Long Beach, New York-JFK, Oakland, Orlando, San Juan [seasonal], West Palm Beach [seasonal] |
| KLM | Amsterdam |
| Korean Air | Seoul-Incheon |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt, Munich [seasonal] |
| Northwest Airlines | Amsterdam, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul |
| Northwest Airlink operated by Compass Airlines | Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul |
| Northwest Airlink operated by Pinnacle Airlines | Minneapolis/St. Paul |
| Qatar Airways | Doha |
| Saudi Arabian Airlines | Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh |
| Scandinavian Airlines System | Copenhagen |
| South African Airways | Dakar, Johannesburg |
| Southwest Airlines | Chicago-Midway, Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa |
| Sun Country Airlines | Minneapolis/St. Paul [seasonal] |
| Virgin America | Los Angeles, San Francisco |
| Virgin Atlantic | London-Heathrow |
Midfield Concourse C
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Canada | |
| Air Canada Jazz | Montréal, Ottawa |
| United Airlines | Albuquerque, Amsterdam, Aruba, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cancún [begins January 6], Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva [begins April 19],[11] Hartford/Springfield, Kuwait City, Las Vegas [begins January 6], London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami [Begins January 6], Montego Bay, Moscow-Domodedovo [begins March 29], Munich, New Orleans, New York-LaGuardia, Orlando [begins January 6], Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Punta Cana, Raleigh/Durham, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Rome-Fiumicino, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan [seasonal], São Paulo-Guarulhos, Seattle/Tacoma, Singapore, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Tampa [begins January 6], Tokyo-Narita, Tucson [seasonal], Vancouver [seasonal], Zürich |
| Ted operated by United Airlines | Cancún [ends January 6], Las Vegas [ends January 6], Miami [ends January 6], Orlando [ends January 6], San Juan [ends January 6], Tampa [ends January 6] |
| United Express operated by Shuttle America | Destinations listed under Concourse A |
Midfield Concourse D
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| British Airways | London-Heathrow |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa, Rome-Fiumicino |
| United Airlines | Destinations listed under Concourse C |
| United Express operated by Shuttle America | Destinations listed under Concourse A |
Airline lounges
- Air France operates a Departures Lounge in the B Concourse, opposite B46.
- All Nippon Airways operates a Club ANA Fuji lounge in the B Concourse, opposite B46.
- American Airlines operates a temporary Admirals Club lounge in Concourse B at B63. A new permanent lounge in Concourse B is under construction.
- British Airways operates a Terraces Lounge and a First Class Lounge in Concourse D opposite D19.
- Northwest Airlines/KLM operate a WorldClubs lounge in the B Concourse opposite B20.
- United Airlines operates three Red Carpet Clubs in the C and D Concourses opposite C8, C16, and D7.
- Virgin Atlantic operates a Clubhouse in the B Concourse opposite B32.
Star Alliance members without a lounge offer access to the United Red Carpet Club lounges, while other airlines who do not operate a lounge of their own offer access to lounges of partner airlines.
Transportation to and from the airport
Dulles is accessible via the Dulles Access Road (State Route 267) and State Route 28. As of 2007[update], the only Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority service to Dulles is the "express" 5A Metrobus route. The 5A express bus makes two to three stops on its way from the airport to downtown Washington, depending on the time of day: stops include the Herndon–Monroe transfer station in Herndon and the Rosslyn Metro station in Arlington. The latter can be accessed by the Orange/Blue lines. The 950 Fairfax Connector bus brings passengers from Reston to the Herndon–Monroe transfer station, where they can switch to the 5A bus to the airport. The RIBS 2 Fairfax Connector bus also connects Reston passengers to the Herndon–Monroe transfer point. An alternative (and more expensive) way of reaching Dulles is the Washington Flyer Coach bus service that operates roughly every thirty minutes between the airport and the West Falls Church Metro station. Passengers connecting to the Shenandoah Valley can use the Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus, which connects to the Vienna and Rosslyn Metro station. Taxis and SuperShuttle ride sharing vans are also available.
Pending final approval and construction, the airport is proposed to be connected to Washington via MetroRail's Silver Line by 2016.
Accidents and incidents
On December 1, 1974, a flight diverted to Dulles, TWA Flight 514, crashed into Mount Weather.
On June 18, 1994, a Learjet 25 operated by Mexican carrier TAESA crashed in trees while approaching the airport from the south. Twelve people died. The passengers were planning to attend the 1994 FIFA World Cup soccer games being staged in Washington, D.C.
A flight originating from Dulles, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks.
In fiction
Dulles has been the backdrop for many Washington based movies, starting shortly after the airport opened with the 1964 film Seven Days in May.
The action movie Die Hard 2: Die Harder is set primarily at Dulles airport. The plot of the film involves the takeover of the airport's tower and communication systems by terrorists, led by Colonel Stuart (William Sadler), who subsequently uses the equipment to prevent airlines from landing, demonstrating the consequences by fooling one jet into crashing onto a runway. It is up to NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) to stop them from downing more planes, one of which has his wife aboard. The film was not shot at Dulles; the stand-ins were Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the now-closed Stapleton International Airport in Denver. An often-noted inconsistency is the existence of Pacific Bell pay phones in the main terminal (the telephone company that served Dulles at the time was GTE and the nearest PacBell territory was thousands of miles away).
Part of the thriller The Package (starring Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones) took place at Dulles. However, the Dulles stand-in this time was Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Portions of all three sequels to the disaster film Airport were filmed at Dulles: Airport 1975, with Charlton Heston, Karen Black and George Kennedy; Airport '77, with Jack Lemmon, Christopher Lee and George Kennedy; and The Concorde: Airport '79.
The Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October features Dulles in some parts such as when the survivors of the Red October are flown back to Russia and when Jack Ryan, the main character, flies back to his home.
Dulles has also served as a stand-in for a New York City-area airport, in the 1999 comedy, Forces of Nature. While set in a New York airport, the main terminal is recognizable.
Numerous episodes of the TV show The X-Files show action taking place in Dulles.[specify]
Dulles appeared in the episode Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington of the cartoon The Simpsons when the family wins a trip to Washington D.C..
Bayview Airport in the video game Need For Speed: Underground 2 is a copy of the main terminal of Dulles.[citation needed]
See also
- Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic
- List of thin shell structures
- Thin-shell structure
References
- ^ a b FAA Airport Form 5010 for IAD PDF
- ^ "Dulles International Airport". Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
- ^ http://www.metwashairports.com/_/File/_/dpsp108ye.pdf
- ^ Coombs, Joe (February 7, 2008). "Passenger numbers up at Dulles International, Reagan National airports". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "History of Washington Dulles International Airport". Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
- ^ http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/records.php
- ^ http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51
- ^ Aryanpur, Arianne (February 2, 2006), At Dulles, The Tarmac Is Their Turf, The Washington Post, p. VA16, retrieved 2008-09-01
- ^ Miroff, Nick (September 14, 2006), Airport's Future Is on Rails, The Washington Post, p. B01, retrieved 2008-09-01
- ^ Shen, Irene (September 11, 2007). Bloomberg.com: Canada "Air China to Add Flights to Toronto, Rome, 10 Cities (Update2)". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ It's Time to Fly to Geneva and London
External links
- Official site
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective August 8, 2024
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KIAD
- ASN accident history for IAD
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KIAD
- FAA current IAD delay information