Curious about the gateway to Washington D.C.? We are standing before Washington Dulles International Airport. This isn’t just an airport. It is a landmark, a hub, and a piece of history all rolled into one.
Dulles Airport, often simply called Dulles, officially opened on November 17, 1962. It was named after John Foster Dulles. He was a Secretary of State during the Cold War. Dulles even briefly represented New York in the United States Senate.
President Eisenhower selected the location in 1958. But the selection had consequences. The small African-American community of Willard was demolished to make way. Eighty-seven property owners had their land condemned. Dulles was also built over Loudoun County’s first official airport, Blue Ridge Airport. It consisted of two intersecting grass runways.
The airport’s main terminal is a sight to behold. Eero Saarinen, a Finnish-American architect, designed it in 1958. Saarinen also designed the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Dulles terminal is admired for its beauty. Its design suggests flight. Originally, the terminal had no concourses. Passengers were transported to planes via mobile lounges. Some of these lounges are still in use today.
In 1984, the airport’s name changed. It became Washington Dulles International Airport. Dulles occupies a vast area. It spans 13,000 acres straddling Loudoun and Fairfax counties. That makes it the fourth-largest airport in the U.S. by land area.
The airport has a rich history. President John F. Kennedy and Eisenhower dedicated it. The first scheduled flight was in 1962. An Eastern Air Lines plane flew from Newark. In 1970, First Lady Pat Nixon christened a Pan Am Boeing 747 at Dulles. Supersonic flights began in 1976. A British Airways Concorde and an Air France Concorde both landed.
Dulles is a major hub for United Airlines. Many airlines with codeshare agreements with United also use it. This includes Star Alliance members like Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa.
A fun fact: Dulles originally used the airport code DIA. However, people often confused it with DCA. That’s the code for Reagan National Airport. So, officials changed it to IAD. It stands for “International Airport Dulles.”
Today, Dulles continues to grow. It has undergone many expansions and renovations. A train system called AeroTrain now transports passengers between the concourses and the main terminal. Dulles is planning even more expansions. These include new concourses and a fifth runway.
In 2023, construction began on a large solar power facility with battery storage. It would be the largest airport-based solar project in the U.S.
Dulles has also appeared in popular culture. It was a filming location for several Airport movies. Die Hard 2 was set at Dulles but wasn’t actually filmed there.
So, as you pass through Dulles, remember its history. It is a landmark that connects the Washington, D.C. area to the world. It’s a place of innovation, expansion, and constant evolution. It is a major transportation hub with a fascinating past and a promising future.