Washington Dulles International Airport

Washington Dulles International Airport opened in November 1962. President John F. Kennedy dedicated it, and it was named for John Foster Dulles, a former secretary of state. Dulles was the first American airport built specifically for jet planes. It sits on a huge, spread out site in Virginia farmland, about 26 miles from downtown Washington. That it could never be boxed in later by nearby buildings.

Architect Eero Saarinen designed the main terminal, a soaring, dramatic building with a roof that hangs from cables between tall columns. Many consider it one of the finest works of twentieth century American architecture, and it is now a protected landmark. Saarinen's plan avoided long walking concourses. Instead it used mobile lounges, large vehicles that carried passengers straight from the terminal to planes parked on open ramps.

Some mobile lounges are still used today, decades after other airports dropped the idea. For its first twenty years, Dulles saw few passengers because travelers preferred nearby National Airport. The main terminal was doubled in length in 1996. An underground train called the AeroTrain opened in 2010. A subway line, the Metro Silver Line, reached the airport in 2022. Dulles is United Airlines' main East Coast gateway for international flights.

Dulles has four runways. Three run north to south side by side. A fourth, called 12/30, is a crosswind runway, built at an angle to catch winds blowing from the side. The site is large enough to add even more runways later.

The Saarinen main terminal handles ticketing and security. Passengers then reach midfield concourses by the AeroTrain or by the surviving mobile lounges, still the only way to some gates. United Airlines runs a large hub here with heavy transatlantic service and growing routes to Asia and Africa. Many foreign airlines also use Dulles as their Washington gateway. Cargo traffic is significant, and government travel keeps the airport busy.