Dulles International Airport
Updated: Wikipedia source
Washington Dulles International Airport ( DUL-iss) (IATA: IAD, ICAO: KIAD, FAA LID: IAD) is the main international airport serving Washington, D ., the capital of the United States. It is located 26 miles (42 km) west of downtown Washington, D ., in Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia. Opened in 1962, the airport is named after John Foster Dulles, an influential secretary of state during the Cold War who briefly represented New York in the United States Senate. Operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Dulles occupies 13,000 acres (20 sq mi; 52 km2); IAD ranks third in the United States in terms of land area, after Denver International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The "striking" and "iconic" Eero Saarinen-designed Main Terminal received vast acclaim for its innovative architecture when it was completed and has gone on to win numerous awards. As of 2024, it is the 24th-busiest airport in the United States, with 27 million enplanements. It had more than 20 million passenger enplanements every year from 2004 to 2019. An average of 60,000 passengers pass through Dulles daily to and from more than 139 destinations around the world. Dulles has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the Mid-Atlantic outside the New York metropolitan area, including approximately 90% of the international passenger traffic in the Baltimore–Washington region. In 2025, IAD Airport set an all-time record with 29,008,839 passengers served, a 6 % increase over 2024. Dulles is a hub for United Airlines, and it is frequently used by Star Alliance members that United has codeshare agreements with. Dulles is also a hub for regional operators Mesa, GoJet, and CommuteAir, which operate under the United Express brand.