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Washington Dulles International Airport serves the greater Washington, D.C./metropolitan area. It is named after John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower. It serves as a hub for United Airlines and a focus city for jetBlue Airways.

The inception of low-cost carrier Independence Air in 2004 propelled IAD from being the 24th busiest airport in the United States to 5th, and one of the top 10 busiest in the world. At its peak of 600 flights daily, Independence, combined with service from JetBlue and AirTran, briefly made Dulles the largest low-cost hub in the United States. On a typical day, 1,800 to 2,000 flights are now handled at Dulles, up from 1000 to 1200 in 2003. It remains the second busiest trans-Atlantic gateway on the Eastern Seaboard. Recently with the demise of Independence Air, jetBlue has slowly expanded its focus city operation at Dulles with 6 daily non-stops to Boston and New York. It also serves non-stops to LA/Long Beach, SanFrancisco/Oakland, Ft. Lauderdale, and San Diego making jetBlue the secondest largest carrier at Dulles in terms of non-stop destinations.

The airport occupies approximately 11,000 acres (44.5 km²) of land 26 miles (41.8 km) west of downtown Washington, straddling the border of Fairfax County and Loudoun County, Virginia. It is located partly in Chantilly and partly in Dulles, west of Herndon and southwest of Sterling. It is operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). In 2005, Dulles saw over 27 million passengers through the airport.

Transportation to and from the airport

Dulles is accessible via the Dulles Access and Toll Roads (Virginia Route 267), U.S. Highway 50, or Virginia State Highway 28. The Washington Metro currently offers only an express Metrobus, the # 5A, but a new Washington Metro subway line, the Silver Line, will finally connect Dulles to Washington by train by 2015. The 5A express bus makes a few stops on its way from the airport to downtown Washington, such as the Herndon-Monroe transfer station in Herndon, VA and the Rosslyn Metro Station in Arlington, VA. The # 950 Fairfax Connector bus brings passengers from Reston, VA to the Herndon-Monroe transfer station, where they can switch to the 5A bus to the airport. The # RIBS 2 Fairfax Connector bus will also connect Reston passengers to the Herndon-Monroe transfer point. A more expensive alternative method to reach Dulles is the Washington Flyer Coach bus service that operates roughly every thirty minutes between the airport and the West Falls Church Metro Station. For several years, Greyhound Lines offered through service to several Virginia towns. The Greyhound buses served Harrisonburg, Charlottesville (Greyhound station and Amtrak station), Staunton, and Roanoke from the ground transportation area in front of the main terminal daily. This service was discontinued in the fall of 2005.

History and background

At the end of World War II, growth in aviation and in the Washington metropolitan area led Congress to pass the Washington Airport Act of 1950, providing federal backing for a second airport. After preliminary proposals failed, including one to establish an international airport at what is now Burke Lake Park, the current site was selected by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958.

The civil engineering firm Ammann and Whitney was named lead contractor. The airport was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on November 17, 1962. The main terminal was designed by famed Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and it is highly regarded for its graceful beauty, suggestive of flight. In fact, the original terminal at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan was modeled after the Saarinen terminal at Dulles. Dulles was the first airport in the world specifically designed for jet aircraft, and many of its architectural features were experimental at the time. Mobile lounges that brought passengers directly from aircraft to the terminal were supposed to be the wave of the future, but this innovation was not widely duplicated throughout the world at later airports. Some of the other innovations, such as the midfield terminal and extra-long runways, were designed with a future role as a spaceport in mind.

Although designed for jet planes, the first flight was an Eastern Air Lines Super Electra turboprop, arriving from Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Initially considered to be a white elephant due to its limited flight destinations in the 1960s and its 26-mile distance from downtown Washington, Dulles has steadily grown at the same time that suburbs of the city grew along the Dulles Corridor and I-495 Capital Beltway. Restrictions placed on the type of aircraft at and distance of routes from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport have meant most long-distance flights to the area must fly to Dulles or Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland.

The era of jumbo jets in international aviation began on January 15, 1970, when First Lady Pat Nixon christened a Pan Am Boeing 747 at Dulles in the presence of Pan Am chairman Najeeb Halaby. Red, white, and blue water was sprayed on the aircraft, rather than breaking a bottle of champagne. The first Boeing 747 flight on Pan Am from Dulles was to London Heathrow.

Another milestone in aviation took place on May 24, 1976, when supersonic air travel commenced between Dulles and Europe. On that day, a British Airways Concorde flew in from London and an Air France Concorde arrived from Paris. The sleek aircraft lined up at Dulles nose-to-nose for a photo opportunity.

As Dulles expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, operations outgrew the main terminal and new midfield concourses were constructed, using mobile lounges to bring passengers to the main terminal. An underground tunnel consisting of a passenger walkway and moving sidewalks was opened in 2004 which links the main terminal and concourse B. A modern underground train shuttle service connecting the various buildings is now under construction.

During the 1980s a U.S. Senate resolution to change the name of Washington-Dulles to Washington-Eisenhower was defeated, largely due to efforts of the Dulles family and the growing awareness of the huge expense that would be needed to change traffic signs for airport-bound vehicles.

The inaugural flight of the Boeing 777 in commercial service, a United Airlines flight from London Heathrow, landed at Dulles in 1995.

On December 1, 1974 a flight diverted to Dulles, TWA Flight 514, crashed into Mount Weather.

When the SR-71 was retired by the military in 1990, one was flown from its birthplace at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale to Dulles where it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (an annex of the National Air & Space Museum) in Chantilly, Virginia, setting a coast-to-coast speed record at an average 2,124 mph (3,418 km/h). The entire trip took 64 minutes.*

A flight from Dulles, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed by terrorists into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

In December 2003, the National Air and Space Museum opened at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles. The museum annex houses an Air France Concorde, the Enola Gay B-29, the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Boeing 367-80, which was the prototype of the Boeing 707, and other famous aerospace artifacts, particularly those too large for the main building on the National Mall.

Beginning April 19, 2006, United Express will move its operations from Concourse G to Concourse A, which was formerly used by the now-defunct Independence Air which ceased operations on January 6, 2006. The transition is expected to be completed by May 1, 2006. *

Terminals

The signature Dulles main terminal houses ticketing, baggage claim, US Customs and Border Protection, the Z gates, and other support facilities. From here passengers can take mobile lounges to their concourses, "plane mates" directly to their airplanes, or take the passenger walkway to concourse B. The plane mates are also used to transport passengers arriving on international flights directly to the US Customs and Border Protection inspection centre located in the main terminal.

Mobile lounges

Dulles is one of the few remaining airports to use the mobile lounge system for boarding and deboarding aircraft. The "lounge" consists of a 54-by-16-foot carriage mounted on a scissor truck, capable of carrying 102 passengers. They were designed by the Chrysler Corporation in association with the Budd Company. The conveyances are sometimes nicknamed "moon buggies" for the similar appearance of their tires with those of the Lunar Rover.

The "Plane Mate" is an evolutionary variation on the concept. They are similar in appearance to mobile lounges, but can raise themselves on screws to "mate" directly with an aircraft. This allows passengers to deplane directly aboard and be carried to the main terminal.

By shuttling from the main terminal directly to a midfield jet ramp, passengers could avoid long walking distances amidst weather, noise, and fumes on the tarmac. But the advent of the Jetway and construction of the midfield concourses diluted the system's advantages.

Today, the airport uses 19 mobile lounges to transfer passengers between the midfield concourses and to and from the main terminal building, as well as 30 plane mates. They have all been given names based on the postal abbreviations of 50 states, e.g.: VA, MD, AK, etc. The MWAA plans to retire the mobile lounge system altogether in favor of an underground people mover and pedestrian walkway system (now in service to concourse B), as part of a major engineering program that will also add a concourse to the main terminal and give the airport a fourth runway.

Main terminal

The main terminal is a very well regarded building; its roof is a suspended catenary providing a wide enclosed area unimpeded by columns. It was recognized by the American Institute of Architects in 1966. It houses ticketing, baggage claim, and information facilities, as well as the International Arrivals Building for passenger processing.

Although still very elegant, the increase in low-cost carriers has caused extremely long security checkpoint lines to develop and they now plague the once spacious ticketing area. During busy travels seasons, the checkpoint line can wrap around the entire ticketing area. In these cases, getting from the end of the line to the front can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minues.

There are two sets of gates in the main terminal. They are waiting areas for airlines which lack permanent physical gates and therefore use Plane Mates. There are also the recently-opened "Z" Gates, which provide service for US Airways.

"H" Gates

"Z" Gates

Midfield Terminals

There are three midfield terminal buildings: One contains the A and B Midfield Concourses, another the C and D Midfield Concourses, and the last the G Midfield Concourse. The C and D Concourses, completed in 1983, were designed to be temporary. Their replacements are under development. The A and B Concourses are the first of the permanent Midfield Concourses. The G Concourse is also permanent, its name reflective of the long-term plan for concourse development.

Midfield Concourse A
Midfield Concourse A served as a hub for Independence Air, which ceased operations on January 5, 2006. United, in a $4.3 million agreement, will receive 36 former Independence Air concourse A gates. On April 19, 2006, United Express (which previously operated out of Concourse G) moved its operations to Concourse A. The transition was completed on May 1. *
  • United Airlines
    • United Express operated by Chautauqua Airlines (Boston, Buffalo, Columbus, Greensboro, Harrisburg, Indianapolis, Manchester (NH), Rochester (NY), Toronto)
    • United Express operated by Colgan Air (Allentown, Binghamton, Charleston (WV), Charlottesville, State College, White Plains)
    • United Express operated by GoJet Airlines (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Kansas City, Portland (ME), San Antonio, Syracuse)
    • United Express operated by Mesa Airlines (Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham (AL) Sept. 6, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago-Midway Sept. 5, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbia, Daytona Beach, Detroit, Greensboro, Greenville/Spartanburg, Hartford, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Manchester (NH), Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Newark, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Myrtle Beach, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Raleigh/Durham, Rochester (NY), Savannah)
    • United Express operated by Trans States Airlines (Albany, Burlington, Dayton, Harrisburg, Hartford, Knoxville, Manchester (NH), Newark, Norfolk, Providence, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Roanoke, Syracuse, St. Louis)

Midfield Concourse B

Midfield Concourse C
  • Air Canada Jazz (Montréal, Ottawa)
  • Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
  • United Airlines (Albuquerque September 6, 2006, Amsterdam, Aruba, Atlanta, Boston, Brussels, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Chicago-O'Hare, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Denver, Frankfurt, Hartford, Kuwait City October 28, 2006, pending gov't approval, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montego Bay, Montevideo, Munich, Nassau, New Orleans, New York-LaGuardia, Oakland, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Punta Cana, Richmond, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), San Juan, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Vancouver, Zurich)
    • Ted operated by United Airlines (Cancún, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, San Juan, Tampa)
    • United Express operated by Shuttle America (Albany, Dallas/Fort Worth, Halifax, Hartford, Houston-Intercontinental, Indianapolis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montréal, Raleigh/Durham, Toronto)

Midfield Concourse D

Midfield Concourse G
Concourse G was formerly used by United Express. On April 19, 2006, United Express moved their operations from Concourse G to Concourse A (which served as the hub for the now-defunct Independence Air). The transition was completed on May 1, 2006. * As Concourse G was temporary, it is currently scheduled to be demolished.

Dulles in fiction

The action movie Die Harder is set primarily at Dulles Airport. The plot of the film involves the takeover of the airport's tower and communication systems by terrorists, led by Colonel Stuart (William Sadler), who subsequently use the equipment to fool an airliner to crash into the runway. It is up to N.Y. cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) to stop them from downing more planes, one of which has his wife aboard. The film was not shot at Dulles and the reputed geography in it is wrong. An often-noted inconsistency is the existence of Pacific Bell pay phones in the main terminal (the ILEC that served Dulles at the time was GTE and the nearest PacBell territory was thousands of miles away). The Dulles stand-in is Los Angeles International (LAX) and the now-closed Stapleton International Airport in Denver.

Portions of all three sequels to the disaster film Airport were filmed at Dulles: Airport 1975, with Charlton Heston, Karen Black and George Kennedy; Airport '77, with Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, and Jimmy Stewart; and The Concorde: Airport '79, with Robert Wagner, Susan Blakely and George Kennedy. Kennedy played character Joe Patroni in all four Airport movies.

The film Broadcast News included a scene filmed at the airport.

The film In the Line of Fire ends with a scene at the main terminal.

The film Forces of Nature used the Dulles main terminal to double as New York's LaGuardia Airport.

The film Lorenzo's Oil includes a scene filmed at the airport.

In Executive Decision, a Boeing 747 suspected to have stolen Soviet nerve gas "DZ-5" on-board is en route from Athens, Greece, to Dulles. The aircraft is hijacked in-flight, and an anti-terrorist military team makes an air-to-air transfer onto the 747, directed by ARPA engineer Dennis Kahill, to gain control of the plane. They gain control of the plane, but with both pilots killed, Special Agent David Grant (a civilian) with the military team (Kurt Russell) must attempt to land the plane at Dulles, but miss the runway and land at fictional Frederick Field in Maryland. While landing at Frederick, they destroy many small aircraft and a billboard since it is a general aviation airport, nothing that could handle a 747. While hitting the small aircraft, the No. 2 engine detaches from the wing and burns.

External links

Airports in Washington, D.C. | Airports in Virginia | Eero Saarinen structures

Washington Dulles International Airport | Aéroport international de Dulles | Washington Dulles flugvöllur | Washington Dulles International Airport | ダレス国際空港

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Washington Dulles International Airport".

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