Why Dulles — Once the Airport of the Future — Is Under Fire After a Mobile Lounge Crash

Why Dulles Is in the Spotlight

President Donald Trump called Dulles International Airport “not a good airport at all” and “a terrible airport” after a mobile lounge crash last month that injured 18 people. The accident renewed scrutiny of the airport’s aging systems — especially its signature people movers — and prompted the Department of Transportation to request proposals to redesign and rebuild terminals and concourses.

Design, History and Purpose

Selected by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 and opened in 1962, Dulles was built on roughly 10,000 acres of farmland in Chantilly, Virginia, to serve the growing Washington metropolitan area. Architect Eero Saarinen’s sweeping modernist terminal remains widely praised for its aesthetic; Saarinen famously called the project "the best thing I have done." The airport was designed for the jet age, with long runways to accommodate larger, faster aircraft.

The Mobile Lounges: Innovation That Aged Poorly

Dulles’ most distinctive — and controversial — feature is the mobile lounge system, developed by Chrysler in partnership with the Budd Company. These hydraulically elevated shuttle vehicles, each able to carry roughly 100 passengers, ferried travelers between the main terminal and aircraft. They were novel in 1962 but struggled to keep up with passenger volumes after the 1978 airline deregulation and the resulting hub-and-spoke growth in air travel.

“It’s the primary portal to the nation’s capital, especially overseas travelers,” says Bob van der Linden, commercial aviation curator at the National Air and Space Museum. “Those mobile lounges just weren’t quite that useful anymore as traffic increased.”

Operational Concerns and Recent Incidents

Beyond the mobile lounges, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has also highlighted persistent jet-fuel odors at the airport. The recent crash, which injured 18 people, follows past incidents — including a 2012 accident in which a ramp agent for Southwest Airlines was killed. These events have intensified calls for a comprehensive modernization effort.

Plans For Modernization

The Department of Transportation has issued a request for information seeking design, financing and construction ideas, including possible public–private partnerships, to replace or expand terminals and concourses. United Airlines, which operates a hub at Dulles, said it looks forward to working with the administration, the DOT and FAA to improve infrastructure and operations in "a meaningful and cost-effective way."

Why Expansion Is Feasible

Experts note that Dulles was intentionally sited on a large land parcel, making physical expansion and the addition of runways more feasible than at many older, land-constrained airports. That flexibility makes large-scale upgrades technically straightforward, though they would require significant investment and planning.

What Comes Next

Officials have not announced specific plans, timelines or budgets for a full redesign. If the administration and industry partners move forward, the next steps will likely include studies, design competitions, and negotiations over financing and construction responsibilities. For now, the crash has accelerated an already long-running debate about how best to bring Dulles into the 21st century.