Dulles' new Concourse E opens, offering a glimpse of the airport's future
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The view from the new United Club lounge. Photo: Cuneyt Dil/Axios
Dulles Airport's new Concourse E opens on Tuesday, bringing United Airlines travelers spacious gates, more concessions and (for a price) a swanky club lounge.
Why it matters: The project is one step toward Dulles' massive modernization, which will take up to 10 years, phasing out "people movers" and adding many gates.
State of play: The concourse's first flight takes off for Chicago Tuesday morning, per United Airlines spokesperson Lina Mizerek.
- At an unveiling Monday, the sleek aesthetics and new food options (I heard one person rave about Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken, plus local names opening) got plenty of attention. So did the bathrooms.
- There are 14 new gates, which United says will allow 300+ daily departures by next summer.
- United also showed off its new Airbus planes, built narrow but capable of flying far, starting with Amsterdam and Dublin next month and later expanding to Toulouse.
The new United Club lounge makes a local nod: The escalator entrance pays homage to Metro's iconic brutalist stations.
- Inside are two buffet stations, a bar and seating for more than 600 customers, making it United's second-largest Club lounge.
- It'll be open 5:30am to 10pm daily. One-time passes run $59, per the Points Guy guide to Club lounges, and some elite United credit cards also may get you in.
Getting there: Arriving international passengers will continue to board people mover shuttles to get to customs, but domestic travelers will simply use the AeroTrain.
What's ahead: This is only the start. Concourse E is slated to get four times as long over the next several years, with the addition of an even fancier United Polaris lounge, mostly reserved for business class passengers.
Between the lines: The expansion comes amid concerns about whether Dulles flights will become more expensive as the airport modernizes.
- If President Trump's $22.5 billion remake gets done, industry experts believe, costs will go up for airliners, who will pass it on to customers. (See our previous reporting about how the "cost per enplanement" could go from $10 to $90.64 by 2035. Officials have disputed that increase, saying it's more likely to rise by $60 to $65.)
- "It is a costly inflationary world," Andrew Nocella, chief commercial officer at United, told reporters. But he argued upgrading aging U.S. airports will provide "value" to customers with "new technology, greater comfort and less friction."
What we're watching: Jack Potter, the head of MWAA, told me in an interview that the future vision for Dulles includes everything from replacing the aging C and D concourses to potentially rerouting traffic into the airport to ease parking lot snarls.
- The crown jewel will be retiring the people movers. "We're going to complete the train," Potter says, and build a "center spine" tunnel that'll allow walkability across all concourses.
