Calling Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International “not a good airport,” Donald Trump says that his administration will embark on a reconstruction of the northern Virginia facility – one of the three U.S. capital-area airports whose quality is a hotly debated topic among Washingtonians.
Trump told a meeting of meeting of his Cabinet members at the White House earlier this week that the airport would be rebuilt, adding, “It should be a great airport, and it’s not a good airport at all. It’s a terrible airport.
“We’re going to turn that around and we’re going to make Dulles airport – serving Washington and Virginia, Maryland, etc. – we’re gonna make that into something really spectacular. We have an amazing plan for it,” he added.
Trump, a former real estate mogul, said the Dulles building was “incorrectly designed.” He nonetheless praised Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American architect who designed the main terminal at Dulles.
During the Cabinet meeting, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy singled out the controversial “people movers” that ferry travellers in between concourses. One of the vehicles, which are also called “mobile lounges,” crashed in November.
Still, some experts questioned the substance of Trump’s Dulles remarks.
Sheldon H. Jacobson, an airport security and aviation infrastructure expert whose research contributed to the design of TSA PreCheck, called the president’s announcement a “head-scratcher,” noting it comes amid substantial modernization work already underway at Dulles, including a new 14-gate concourse set to open next year that will give passengers direct access to its AeroTrain system.
“I can think of a lot higher priorities right now,” he said, pointing to the long-needed updates to the nation’s aging air traffic control equipment. Trump said that his administration was also working on modernizing the air traffic control system.
Jacobson said the airport’s continued reliance on people movers remains a “glaring weakness,” but added that “there are a lot of things actually in very good shape at Dulles right now,” including the AeroTrain.
“I’m not sure what he’s thinking,” Jacobson said of Trump. “His comments are non sequitur to the reality of this airport.”
The Transportation Department announced that it is inviting bids for a Dulles project that would build “completely new terminals and concourses” at the airport. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said in a statement that it will work with the Transportation Department to build upon the existing $7-billion plan to improve Dulles.
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