President Donald Trump wants to make Washington Dulles International Airport great again.
The president said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he wants to “rebuild” the northern Virginia airport commonly used by residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.
“We’re also going to rebuild Dulles Airport because it’s not a good airport,” Trump said. “It should be a great airport, and it’s not a good airport at all. It’s a terrible airport.”
The Chantilly, Virginia, airport is one of the largest airports in the United States and filters millions of people through its doors each year. It’s one of three airports, including Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, that serve DMV residents.
Trump says he thinks the Dulles building is good but was “incorrectly designed.” He also called the terminal “beautiful.”
“We’re going to turn that around, and we’re going to make Dulles Airport — serving Washington and Virginia, Maryland, etc. — we’re gonna make that into something really spectacular. We have an amazing plan for it,” he added.
Dulles faced intense criticism for its “people-movers” after a mobile lounge got into an accident that injured 18 people last month. The lounge transports people between the terminal and aircraft, and hit a dock at the airport.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said his agency would send out bids to repair the “people-movers.” Dulles officials have said that they want to continue using the mobile lounges for the next 15 years.
The president took a tour of Dulles in November, stopping through the airport with his motorcade to assess possible future projects.
EIGHTEEN PEOPLE SENT TO HOSPITAL AFTER MOBILE LOUNGE HITS DOCK AT DULLES AIRPORT
Trent Morse, a former White House official whom Trump nominated to serve on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board, told the Senate last month that he wanted to get rid of the “people-movers,” among other changes.
He recently told the Washington Post that he would like to see Dulles overhauled. “There’s no reason we can’t do that at Dulles and build out this world-class facility,” Morse said.