In 2017, over 46.6 million travelers passed through the thriving economic hubs of Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport, including 8.4 million visitors to the Virginia-Maryland-Washington, DC region. While some observers may think the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (Airports Authority) is simply the organization that runs both airports, the Airports Authority plays a much broader role in the regional economy.
The Airports Authority also operates the Dulles Toll Road and manages the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project. In 2017, the transportation assets the Airports Authority oversees stimulated over $23.6 billion of regional output, delivered $14.4 billion in gross domestic project (GDP), and supported 187,200 local jobs. If all of this activity were in a single, publicly traded company, the Airports Authority would rank 123rd on the Fortune 500.
The Airports Authority commissioned IHS Markit to assess and quantify the economic contributions the organization makes to the economies of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC. The analysis was structured around three distinct roles the Airports Authority plays in the regional economic landscape--visitor spending, travel services, and local spending--with the overall economic contributions distributed across these areas.
- Airports Authority Announces Results of Economic Impact Study
- Read the Executive Summary of The Economic Contribution of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Study
- Download the One-Page Informational Brief