Washington Dulles International Airport

Washington Dulles International Airport

Washington Dulles International Airport also known as Washington Dulles or IAD is a major international airport that is located in Loudoun and Fairfax counties of Virginia. It serves the Baltimore-Washington metro area as well as northern Virginia. Washington Dulles is the main international airport in the metro area and has nonstop service to locations across the globe. Washington Dulles has 4 major runways, 1 landside terminal with 2 airside terminals containing 4 main concourses and 2 special concourses as well as facilities capable of handling Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 aircraft. In terms of passenger traffic, Dulles is the 3rd busiest airports in the Baltimore-Washington area (behind Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) handling 21 million passengers a year.
    

Washington Dulles has its terminal laid out similarly to Atlanta International Airport and Denver International Airport consisting of 1 landside terminal and 2 airside terminals. The landside terminal contains pickup/drop off, checkin counters, main tram station, a few shops/ cafes and 4 jetbridges known as concourse Z (serves Frontier, Air Canada Express and Silver Airways). The landside terminal is also renowned for its elegant architecture. The Airside terminals are connected to the landside terminal by an underground tram system, a walkway tunnel (only for concourses A and B) and above ground "mobile lounges" (specially built transport trucks). The Airsides also contain their own shops, restaurants and bathrooms. The airside closest to the main terminal contains concourses A and B. Concourse A has a total of 47   gates including international gates that are designed for widebody international jets as well as many ground level (no jet bridge) gates for regional jets. Concourse B has 28 gates and is utilized by some international flights but mainly all non-United Airlines domestic flights (includes Canadian flights). Concourse A and B house Aer Lingus (seasonal), Aeroflot, Aeroméxico, Air China, Air France, All Nippon Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, British Airways, Copa Airlines, Delta Airlines, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiad Airways, Icelandair, JetBlue, KLM, Korean Air, LATAM Peru, Lufthansa, Porter Airlines, Qatar Airways, Saudia, Scandinavian Airlines, South African Airways, Southern Airways Express, Southwest Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic. It is important to note that most of the listed airlines in concourse A and B serve very few destinations, mainly to their hubs/bases. The airside furthest from the main terminal contains concourses C and D. Concourses C and D contain 44 gates and are exclusively used by United Airlines and their regional carrier United Express. Washington Dulles' terminal is certainly a nice facility that makes both domestic and international travel convenient for all.
    

There are many facilities on the airport grounds that cater to any travelers needs. There are many parking options for travelers such as airport economy parking to local parking companies. There are also many car rental facilities on the grounds, and practically all of them are affiliates of All Star Travel. These fine companies include, Alamo, Hertz, Dollar and many more. The airport is located 26 miles west of the National Mall and other gov. Buildings and is around a 30-60 minute drive on the Dulles Access Road- Interstate 66.
    

Washington Dulles is one of the main ports of entry for people all across the globe to visit the United States. Washington Dulles certainly is a pleasant airport to travel by and a great gateway to the world.

Fun facts:

-Washington Dulles has service to around 125 destinations across the globe
-Dulles handles nearly 60,000 passengers a day
-Dulles' main terminal was designed in 1958 by Euro Saarinen
-Dulles is home to an expansion of the National Air and Space Museum
-Dulles' new ATC tower is 325ft tall, the old one is 193ft tall