Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia. (Photo courtesy Federal Aviation Administration)
WASHINGTON — Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the main long-distance gateway to the nation’s capital, is set to receive a multi-billion-dollar makeover, a White House spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.
President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy are expected to announce the project Wednesday afternoon at an event in the Oval Office. The sprawling renovation would preserve the iconic, concave sweeping roof of the airport’s main terminal but would update its interior and rebuild its A, B, C and D concourses, according to CBS News, which first reported the plan late Tuesday.
It would also eliminate some of the airport’s most recognizable — and controversial — features, including mobile lounges, often referred to as “people movers.” The large, raised bus-like vehicles transport passengers from the main terminal to the D concourse. An expanded AeroTrain, the airport’s underground transportation system, will instead connect passengers to their gates, according to the CBS report.
Trump seems to have taken a particular interest in the project, having personally reviewed many of the early proposals and offering edits to the plans, CBS reported. He suggested more and closer parking to the airport terminal, and gave suggestions on layout changes and the airport’s overall design.
He even had design firms create 3-D models of the airport and the various proposals for its renovation so he could better visualize it. Trump had the models brought to the White House several times for his review, according to the report.
A large investment
If approved, the project would mark one of the largest and most expensive airport renovations in the U.S. Its estimated $22.5 billion price tag is more than half the amount spent on all airport construction globally in 2024, according to the Airport Industry Review.
According to the White House, the renovation will be financed by airlines that operate out of Dulles and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which oversees both Dulles and Reagan National Airport.
The plan would be topped only by Los Angeles International’s gargantuan, $30 billion capital improvement plan to modernize its terminals and upgrade infrastructure ahead of high-traffic events in the coming years, including the 2028 summer Olympics.
A new Washington
The Dulles renovation is the latest in a series of projects led by Trump to remake many of Washington’s most iconic landmarks.
He tore down the White House’s East Wing to make way for a controversial new ballroom. He also drained and painted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which then faced algae blooms and peeling paint, and launched a legal battle against a former Olympic athlete over alleged vandalism.
After installing a new board of trustees in an effort to eradicate what he described as “woke programming,” he also affixed his name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. That decision sparked a lengthy legal challenge and ultimately resulted in a judicial order to remove his name from the building’s exterior.
Early last year, Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to rename the Virginia airport to the “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” That effort did not proceed, but Palm Beach’s airport, which the president routinely flies into on his way to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, was recently similarly renamed in his honor.