US President Donald Trump has announced a $22.5 billion (€19.8 billion) reconstruction of Washington Dulles International Airport, the main international gateway to the American capital.
He set out the plan on July 29 in the Oval Office alongside Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, and United Airlines chief executive Scott Kirby.
The work would run over about 10 years. It would add or renovate more than 5 million square feet (465,000 square metres) of space and replace the ageing C and D concourses.
Four new concourses are planned, along with a 32,000-space car park closer to the main building and a central pedestrian tunnel.
The airport’s mobile lounges, the wheeled vehicles that have carried passengers across the tarmac since 1962, would be scrapped and the underground AeroTrain extended in their place.
The main terminal designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, a landmark of mid-century modern architecture, would be preserved.
“It’s considered one of the worst airports anywhere in the world,” Trump said of Dulles, calling the project a long-overdue reconstruction.
Duffy said federal money would not be used. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs Dulles under a long-term federal lease, would issue tax-free revenue bonds, with carriers repaying them through airport charges.
“The airlines who participate in the project are going to pay for it,” Duffy said. United carries roughly two-thirds of the airport’s daily passengers.
Trump said the scheme was largely financed although some congressional approval would probably be needed. He said the plan enjoyed bipartisan support.
Aviation analysts have questioned the arithmetic. Gary Leff, who writes the industry blog View from the Wing, noted that the airports authority already carries about $4.7 billion in outstanding aviation bonds.
An airline briefing in May projected the cost per departing passenger at Dulles rising to about $90 by 2035 under the full programme, a level that would leave little room for low-fare competition at the airport.
Dulles opened in 1962 and handled 29 million passengers in 2025, an increase of 6.4 per cent on the previous year. As recently as September 2025 the airports authority told its board the mobile lounges would be needed for another 15 to 20 years.
Trump has presented the airport plan as part of a wider remaking of the capital, following the demolition of the White House East Wing for a new ballroom, a planned triumphal arch and the closure of the Kennedy Center for refurbishment.
He also complained that the last major airport built in the United States was Denver in 1995, contrasting American facilities with newer hubs in Europe, the Gulf and Asia.
