President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration plans to launch a major renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport, calling the facility outdated, inconvenient, and poorly designed — and promising to transform it into an airport worthy of the nation’s capital.
“We’re also going to rebuild Dulles airport because it’s not a good airport. It should be a great airport, and it’s not a good airport at all,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting. “It’s a terrible airport. It was incorrectly designed with a good building. Actually it’s got a beautiful terminal.”
Dulles, located roughly 25 miles outside Washington, D.C., in Chantilly, Virginia, handles millions of passengers each year but has long faced complaints from travelers. Much of the criticism centers on long walking distances, a sprawling layout, and the airport’s outdated “people movers” — mobile lounges that shuttle passengers between the main terminal and concourses.
Those frustrations intensified after a mobile lounge crashed last month, injuring more than a dozen passengers. On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the administration will soon solicit bids to replace the aging fleet of people movers entirely.
Trump’s comments come as no surprise to those who have followed his push to overhaul infrastructure in and around the capital. Earlier this month, the president’s motorcade made an unannounced detour through the Dulles campus. At the time, White House officials said Trump was surveying potential projects.
Throughout his first term, Trump has taken an unusually hands-on approach to federal facilities, overseeing renovations to the White House grounds, refurbishing public spaces across Washington, and calling for modernization efforts at airports and federal buildings nationwide. His criticism of Dulles aligns with his longstanding argument that America has fallen behind other nations in infrastructure quality — especially on aviation.
Trump has frequently used airports as an example of what he sees as years of federal neglect. During the Cabinet meeting, he suggested Dulles will not be merely repaired but reimagined, with improvements that reflect how modern airports operate.
While details of the redesign have not yet been released, the administration appears poised to replace the people mover system, streamline passenger flow, and address structural deficiencies created by early design choices dating back to the airport’s opening in 1962.
Trump’s push to revitalize Dulles comes as part of a broader effort to leave a lasting mark on the region’s infrastructure before the end of his term. With Dulles serving as a major international gateway and the closest large commercial airport to the White House, the administration considers the project both practical and symbolic.
For local travelers frustrated by decades of delay, bottlenecks, and outdated equipment, Trump’s announcement signals that long-awaited upgrades may finally be coming. The administration is expected to release more detailed plans as contractors begin bidding on the project in the coming months.
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