By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) – The Trump administration is holding talks to reach agreement on a massive, multi-billion dollar rebuild of Washington Dulles International Airport, an official said.
Deputy Transportation Secretary Steve Bradbury said at an industry forum there are ongoing discussions between the department and the authority that runs the airport to find a way forward. President Donald Trump held a Feb. 25 meeting on Dulles’s future that included United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, whose company handles nearly 70% of the traffic at Dulles, sources said.
“Those discussions are continuing,” Bradbury said. “We’re very optimistic that we’ve got some momentum and excitement building and big things will be happening on a faster pace.”
United declined to comment.
Trump said in December he has a new design in mind for Dulles and said he planned to rebuild Dulles “because it’s not a good airport. It should be a great airport… They have a great building and a bad airport.”
Critics say Dulles is in need of modernization and gripe about slow mobile lounge vehicles that transport passengers across the tarmac. USDOT in December criticized the “jet fuel smell in the concourses” and the “paltry” number of gates in the main terminal.
The airport, which is operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority under a 50-year lease approved by Congress, is expected to hold more meetings with United and USDOT about expansion plans, sources said.
Bradbury noted MWAA and United have been working for years on a master plan for expanding Dulles. “I think the feeling on the part of the president and within the administration is ‘that’s great, but it’s not enough, and it’s not fast enough’,” Bradbury said.
The airport authority in 2025 approved a master capital plan to spend at least $7 billion overhauling Dulles in coming years and officials said the Trump administration is considering plans that would cost billions more.
The airport, which is located about 25 miles (40 km) from the U.S. capital and opened in 1962, will get a new 435,000-square-foot (40,412-square-meter), 14-gate concourse this fall serving United customers.
Dulles had a record year in 2025, handling 29 million total passengers, up 6.4%.
Finnish architect Eero Saarinen designed the airport’s terminal building, a distinctive structure with a sloping roof that sweeps up toward the sky on opposite sides.
USDOT in December sought proposals to completely overhaul the airport, including potentially tearing down the historic main terminal.
Reuters reported in February that Trump offered to drop his hold on funding for a $16 billion New York Hudson River tunnel project in exchange for Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer supporting the renaming of Dulles and New York Penn Station after Trump.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Chris Sanders)
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