Dulles International Airport passenger traffic grew for the month of August, offsetting a small drop in totals for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and leaving the system largely unchanged for the month with 3.9 million passengers served.  The August passenger stats, released Wednesday at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority monthly Board of Directors meeting, indicated the growth at Dulles was driven by a significant increase in international travel. Domestic travel at both airports leveled off, following a year in which traffic shifted to Reagan National as a result of increased air service at the airport.

Dulles served more than 2 million passengers in August, up 0.9 percent for the month. International passenger traffic grew by 8.2 percent, the tenth straight month of international growth. The sustained increase in international traffic is attributed to new and expanded service on Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and United Airlines. Domestic travel at the airport declined as service was discontinued to several destinations.

Reagan National served 1.8 million passengers in August, a decrease of more than 1percent. It was the first drop in more than a year, when Congress authorized additional flights into the airport and U.S. Airways acquired additional flight ‘slots’ in order to increase service. Declines in domestic travel at Reagan National are attributed to a decrease in service by United and Frontier and the end of service by Spirit Airlines. Passenger totals for the airport are still up 6.1 percent for the year.  

Visit here for complete details about August Air Traffic Statistics.

Air Traffic Highlights:

Reagan National (DCA), August 2013

• Passenger totals: 1.8 million; -1.1% vs. Aug. 2012

          Year-to-Date: 13.9 million;  +6.1%

Dulles International (IAD), August 2013

• Passenger totals: 2.1 million; +0.9% vs. Aug. 2012

          Year-to-Date: 14.9 million; -3.5%

Other items addressed during the Airports Authority’s board of directors meeting included the award of the contract for general aviation services at Reagan National and the award of a contract for maintenance and support of the toll collection equipment on the Dulles Toll Road.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority was established in 1987 by the governments of Virginia and the District of Columbia to manage and operate Washington’s Ronald Reagan National and Dulles International airports, which together serve more than 40 million passengers a year. The Airports Authority also operates and maintains the Dulles Airport Access Road and the Dulles Toll Road and manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail system into Loudoun County, Va. No taxpayer money is used to operate the toll road, which is funded by toll revenues, or the airports, which are funded through aircraft landing fees, rents and revenues from concessions. The Silver Line construction is funded by a combination of toll-road revenues, airport contributions and federal, state and local government appropriations. The Airports Authority is led by a 17-member board of directors appointed by the governors of Virginia, Maryland, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and the president of the United States.

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