Dulles International Airport is spending billions on critical capital improvements — a terminal-to-concourse transport system for travelers, a new air traffic control tower, a runway. And the airport also has worked to improve comfort, dining and shopping outlets for travelers.
On Thursday, Matthew McCormack was in Dulles to catch a flight to Toronto. McCormack knows exactly what he wants in an airport: cafes and coffee.
“There’s always hours of waiting,” said McCormack, who is in the Canadian army. “Nobody likes to sit in McDonald’s for two hours.”
But there’s no one-size-fits-all blueprint for the perfect terminal.
“Every airport is different,” said Margaret McKeough, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs both Dulles and Reagan National airports.
“In building a concession program, you have to know your demographics. If someone’s only catching a 30-minute flight, shopping’s not necessarily on their mind. They can get it on the other end.”
Growing pains
Expansion always was part of the plan architect Eero Saarinen had for Dulles.
The terminal could be extended — and eventually was — by several hundred feet at either end. Concourses both permanent and temporary were added behind the terminal. The airport opened in November 1962 and initially inhabited only a small fraction of the 10,000 acres purchased for its use.
But growth before June 1987, when the Airports Authority took over the running of the facilities, was tricky.
In the pre-authority days, Dulles sent its revenues back to the federal government and waited to see what it would receive in appropriations.
Under the authority’s management, growth has been a struggle to create a vision for the airport amid change, dust and, most recently, massive excavations.
That has been a tough sell when attracting new dining establishments and retailers, McKeough said, and even tougher on consumers.
“It’s harder to be servicing folks while you’re trying to construct your retail space,” McKeough said.
Right direction?
Some have questioned whether space for brew pubs, massage stands and even the Metro extension should be part of Dulles’ growth.
“I think to expand an airport just to accommodate more malls is just a mistake,” said Dorn McGrath, a professor emeritus in city and regional planning as well as geography at George Washington University. “You can hardly get through the packhorses there who are there to buy everything from fine wines and cheeses to get to your plane.”
The executive vice president for policy at the Washington-based Airports Council International said Dulles understands that it has to offer more — food, shopping, Internet connectivity.
“A lot of it for Dulles is who’s your market,” Van Beek said. “A lot of the time you have a pretty well-heeled traveler at Dulles.”
It’s a far cry, Van Beek said, from the Dulles he knew as a child when his father would take him to watch the Concorde land from an open-air observation deck at the airport.
“It was a magical experience when you were a kid,” Van Beek said. “All you saw when you went out there was the golf ball on the top of the air traffic control tower. The airport’s changed as society’s changed.”
Development projects
Finished projects:
» Two parking garages, opened 2002-03: Added 8,500 parking spaces. Cost: $162 million.
» Terminal improvement, finished April 2005: New or upgraded baggage handling, security and ticket counter facilities. Cost: $174 million.
» East Z gates, opened August 2005: Replaced temporary T-Gates on lower level of the terminal with permanent gate counters, restrooms and concessions.Cost: $26 million.
» Passenger walkway, opened November 2004: Connected main terminal to concourses A and B using underground pedestrian tunnel with moving sidewalks. Cost: $82 million.
» Runway reconstruction, reopened October 2004: Overhauled Runway 12-30, the airport’s only east-west, crosswind runway. Cost: $49 million.
Continuing projects:
» Concourse B expansion, opening December 2007: Will add 12 gates to the concourse.
» Air traffic control tower, estimated to be operational sometime this year: Will replace original Dulles tower to meet modern air traffic control requirements.
Dining and shopping to expand at Dulles
» Harry’s Tap Room is just one of the new restaurants being brought to Dulles International Airport by the Westfield Group, an Australia-based shopping center management company. For a full list of dining and shopping outlets at the airport, visit www.metwashairports.com/dulles/shop ping_dining_2/shopping.
