International Traffic Increased in 2011 at Dulles

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority recently released 2011 passenger statistics for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport that show new records have been broken at both airports, which together served more than 42 million passengers last year.

“Even during these challenging times for the aviation industry, we are very pleased that in 2011 we were able to not only continue to provide excellent air service for the region but also to attract new airlines and service,” said Jack Potter, MWAA’s president and CEO. “We will continue to work to keep the Washington region one of the stronger air service markets in the country for both passengers and cargo.”

Dulles Airport served 23.2 million passengers in 2011—continuing to serve the highest number of passengers among the three area airports, also including BWI. That’s a 1.6 percent dip from the previous year; however, on the international front, international and transborder air passenger numbers increased 1.6 percent to 6.5 million. International traffic at Dulles has risen every year since 2003 and MWAA recently expanded the International Arrivals Building as a result of the growth.

Reagan National served 18.8 million passengers in 2011, a nearly 4 percent increase over 2010 and ahead of the national average growth of 1.5 percent last year.

In 2011, Icelandair began nonstop service to Reykjavik and Turkish Airlines increased its number of flights to Istanbul. Announcements already made for new or increased service this year at Dulles, including: Daily service on United to Doha beginning in May; non-stop service to Hawaii with daily service to Honolulu beginning in June; daily service on United to Manchester, UK, beginning in May and Dublin, Ireland, beginning in June. In addition, Porter Airlines begins daily service to Toronto in April.