The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is managing a $7 billion capital improvement plan at Dulles International Airport, as the Trump administration attempts to push its own ideas about how to redevelop the international gateway to the U.S. capital.
The administration abruptly
The
From either perspective, the focus is on the most obviously dated parts of the Dulles experience: a
"How do we fund major infrastructure? We go to the bond market," John (Jack) Potter, the president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said last week in a presentation to the George Mason University, Schar School of Policy and Government in Arlington, Virginia.
"When it comes to the bond market, we pledge future revenues that are anticipated from the activity that we're going to have from people flying."
MWAA made a successful trip to the market
The authority disclosed in March that it has
The authority maintains double-A ratings with all three major credit ratings agencies and stable outlooks.
According to MWAA's 2026 budget, "the total combined system-wide enplaned passengers for both Reagan National and Dulles International are projected to reach a new historic high of 28.1 million enplaned passengers or 104.7% of 2025 budgeted enplanements."
Projections on debt levels are also headed north. "Total gross debt service is $370.1 million, an increase of 5.7% above 2025. Of this debt service amount $80.5 million will be funded with passenger facility charges. Accordingly, 2026 net debt service is $289.6 million, an increase of 7.5% or a $20.1 million increase from the 2025 budget."
Passenger facility charges are paid by travelers, collected by the airlines and funneled back to the airports.
The current rate of $4.50 per person with a maximum of $18 round trip has been in place since 1992. Airports
Airports
The aviation sector received a grade of D+ on the 2025 American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card.
The ASCE estimates the that even if funding levels from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act remain the same in the next round of transportation reauthorization bills, airports will still be running behind.
Their study projects "a need of $310 billion between 2024 and 2033, with projected funding from all sources at $168 billion if IIJA investment levels continue from 2026."
The Airports Council International – North America estimates that the total airport infrastructure needs are $151 billion for the same period.
Both groups point to the stagnated PFC as a major cause of the airports' financial woes.
Many airport sector stakeholders looking for answers in public private partnerships as a way to attract private investment.
Capital improvements at the Dulles main terminal and the gates will be facilitated by design-build, design-bid-build, and progressive-design-build construction models that steer around P3s.
"We are going to use P3s," said Potter. "We're going to be selective about where we use them with the notion that some things we're better off letting the owners of that activity do their own construction."
MWAA is looking to spin off cargo facilities, maintenance hangers, and rental car operations into P3s.
Dulles sprawls across 11,000 acres of land controlled by MWAA, who would prefer to collect lease payments as opposed to constructing and owning more buildings.
"A revenue-financed P3 can tap into private equity and revenue bonds, as well as drawing on the experience of companies that have global experience with airport facility P3s," said Bob Poole, director of transportation policy for the Reason Foundation.
"Some of these P3 companies may have a longer, and global track record on these kinds of P3s than U.S. companies."
The Reason Foundation is a libertarian think tank that favors an increase in private investment in airports.
The next major improvement at Dulles will be a new 14-gate concourse
Further down the line are a new runway, expansion of the Aero Train system that connects the main terminal to the concourses, and demolition of the four-decade-old Concourse C/D to replace them with modern permanent facilities.
The airport's distinctive "mobile lounges" will be retired.
"Customers have high expectations of what they're going to find in an airport," said Potter. "They don't want to wait on line for Subway or McDonald's. They want to be in a lounge. There's this massive move to build very big gates to accommodate wide body aircraft, and the customer experience has to be at a high level."
The Trump administration ushered in new challenges at airports as heavy-handed Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts led to a pause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.
Tapping emergency funds resumed paychecks for TSA personnel on a temporary basis while a permanent solution churns through Congress.
Trump's most recent budget calls for expanding the Screening Partnership Program that farms out TSA duties to government-approved private contractors.
According to TSA, twenty airports are already enrolled in SPP including Orlando Sanford International, Kansas City International, and San Francisco International.
SPP is supervised by TSA, and the Trump administration believes money could be saved by expanding the program.
Critics warn of a possible drop in security protocols fueled by the need to turn a profit. Privatizing the TSA could separate it from the whims of Congress.
"I think it is unwise to mandate that smaller airports must use TSA's SPP, in part because that would trigger large-scale opposition from TSA's unionized employees," said Poole.
"SPP itself needs to be reformed to enable airports to choose the best fit among TSA-certified screening companies, rather than TSA imposing on an airport the provider TSA thinks is best."
P3s at airports, as in other areas of transportation, can incorporate municipal bonds. A plan to leverage a P3 to expand New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport eventually resulted in a $4.5 billion bond
"There was a lot of political pressure for them (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) to just move and move rapidly," said Potter.
"They did choose some funding models where they used a P3. When all was said and done, where did they end up? Back in the municipal bond market. So why make a right to go left?"
MWAA operates two of the three major airports serving the Washington–Baltimore region, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles, as well as the Dulles Toll Road.
MWAA is also rolling out plans to invest over $2 billion for a new concourse, parking garage, and roadway improvements at Reagan National.
