The president is set to unveil a sweeping plan to rebuild the airport, replacing aging terminals and eliminating the signature “people movers.”
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday is set to announce a sweeping plan to remake Dulles International Airport, including building new terminals and doing away with the airport’s long-criticized shuttles, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement.
Trump has spent months considering how to overhaul the airport, hearing pitches in the Oval Office from rival construction and design firms and looking at mock-up designs. Under his plan, the current underground train would be fully built out to take passengers to their terminals — rather than relying on the airport’s shuttles, nicknamed “people movers” — and new terminals would be built to replace the existing ones, the people said.
United Airlines, which uses Dulles as a major hub, has agreed to help pay for the multibillion-dollar project, the people said. Dulles is about 25 miles from downtown Washington and run by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Trump’s public calendar for Wednesday lists a scheduled 3 p.m. announcement with Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy in the Oval Office.
Spokespeople for the White House did not immediately respond to questions about Trump’s planned announcement on Dulles. A United spokesperson declined to comment Tuesday night. Crystal Nosal, an MWAA spokeswoman, declined to comment, saying they are awaiting a formal announcement from the federal government.
CBS News first reported Trump’s planned announcement.
Administration officials have previously cast Trump’s proposed overhaul of Dulles as part of his broader plan to remake the Washington region, which includes beautifying public spaces and major thoroughfares. While some of the president’s moves have been controversial, such as his desire to build a new White House ballroom and a 250-foot triumphal arch, his early efforts regarding Dulles have won some praise from regular critics.
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Trump in December said his administration would rebuild Dulles, praising original architect Eero Saarinen’s vision for the airport’s flagship terminal, while saying he wanted to make it easier to navigate.
“It should be a great airport, and it’s not a good airport at all. It’s a terrible airport,” Trump added. “We’re going to make that into something really spectacular. We have an amazing plan for it.”
Washingtonians make a habit of lamenting Dulles over its distance from the city and the airport’s reliance on mobile lounges, dubbed “people movers,” that carry passengers to different areas of the airport.
Last November, a people mover crashed into a concourse dock, sending at least 18 people to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, MWAA said at the time.
Mobile lounges are a distinct feature to Dulles. Originally designed by Saarinen in 1958, the modernist structure was built without any concourses or gates. The people movers were created as a solution for moving passengers between the airport terminals and planes.
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This story will be updated.
