Washington Dulles Airfield Development - Preparing for the Future

摘要

As the aviation industry continues to change and the airlines strive to return to profitability, airport owners are faced with a variety of infrastructure challenges to provide capacity for future industry growth. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has undertaken an aggressive development program to position the Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to meet these challenges. IAD is in the midst of a $3.4 billion development program, named Dulles Development (D~2). The focal point of this paper is airfield capacity enhancements and improvements at IAD. The paper presents the steps taken to increase the airfield capacity with the addition of a new runway complex, Runway 1L-19R, and the implementation of taxiway geometric improvements for the A-380 aircraft at the Runway 1R-19L complex. The paper also discusses other major airfield improvements such as the reconstruction of Runway 12-30 and Runway 1C-19C. The paper examines the origins of the aforementioned projects, the implementation and progress of the airfield development portion of the D~2 program and the expected future benefits of the program in providing the IAD airfield with the flexibility to adapt to an ever changing aviation industry.