Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport (IATA: IAD, ICAO: KIAD, FAA LID: IAD) is an international airport in Loudoun County and Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, United States, 26 miles (42 km) west of downtown Washington, D.C.
Washington Dulles International Airport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dulles International Airport's main terminal at dusk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | United States federal government | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Washington, D.C. metropolitan area Baltimore metropolitan area | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Dulles, Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | November 17, 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elevation AMSL | 313 ft / 95 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°56′40″N 077°27′21″W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | flydulles.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FAA airport diagram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2023) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration, Passenger traffic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The airport, which opened in 1962, is named after John Foster Dulles, an influential United States Secretary of State during the Cold War and who briefly represented New York in the United States Senate. The airport's main terminal is a well-known landmark designed by Eero Saarinen, who also designed the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Dulles occupies 13,000 acres (20.3 sq mi; 52.6 km2), straddling the Loudoun–Fairfax line. IAD ranks fourth in the US in terms of land area, after Denver International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and Southwest Florida International Airport. Most of the airport is in the unincorporated community of Dulles in Loudoun County, with a small portion in the unincorporated community of Chantilly in Fairfax County.
Along with Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Dulles is one of three major airports serving the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area. As of 2021, it is the second-busiest airport in the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area and 28th-busiest airport in the United States. Dulles has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the Mid-Atlantic outside the New York metropolitan area, including approximately 90% of the international passenger traffic in the Baltimore–Washington region. It had more than 20 million passenger enplanements every year from 2004 to 2019, with 24 million enplanements in 2019. An average of 60,000 passengers pass through Dulles daily to and from more than 139 destinations around the world.
Increased domestic travel from Reagan National Airport has eroded some of Dulles's domestic routes. Dulles overtook Reagan in total enplanements in 2019. In 2018, however, Dulles surpassed Reagan in yearly passenger boardings after having fewer passengers since 2015. Furthermore, it still ranks behind BWI in total annual passenger boardings.
Dulles is a hub for United Airlines and is frequently used by airlines that United has codeshare agreements with, mostly composed of Star Alliance members like Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa.