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Dulles International Airport welcomed more passengers in 2024 than in any previous year, breaking a record that had stood for nearly two decades.
Just over 27.25 million passengers traveled through Dulles during the year, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority announced in late February. The total increased 5.8% from 2023 and surpassed the previous high set in 2005, when the now-defunct discount carrier Independence Air briefly challenged United Airlines at the airport.
The surge also moved Dulles from third to first in annual passenger traffic among the Washington region’s three commercial airports.
MWAA said new airlines contributed to the growth, while United and other established carriers expanded their schedules. The authority operates Dulles and Reagan Washington National Airport, both of which are federally owned.
Aeromexico, Avelo, Breeze, Frontier, Sun Country and Swiss International began serving Dulles in 2024. Airlines introduced 17 routes during the year, most of them from United, the airport’s longtime dominant carrier.
International traffic reached a record 10.38 million passengers, an 11% increase from 2023. Travel was strong across nearly every global region, although service to China continued to lag following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The inability to use Russian airspace remains an obstacle to restoring nonstop flights between China and the East Coast. Other parts of Asia have performed well, and MWAA is working to expand Dulles’s presence in those markets.
Lufthansa also increased capacity on its Munich-to-Dulles route in 2024, replacing an Airbus A340 with an Airbus A380. The A380 is the world’s largest commercial passenger jet, though some international carriers are gradually retiring the aircraft.
Reagan National established its own record with 26.29 million passengers, up 3.3% from the previous year. MWAA attributed that increase to strong regional travel demand and additional airline seating capacity.
At the end of 2024, eight airlines served 97 destinations from National. Together, Dulles and National handled 53.54 million passengers, a 5.8% year-over-year increase.
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport recorded 27.06 million passengers, up 3.3% from 2023 and just below its record from 2018.
Scheduled annual airline seats increased between 2017 and 2024 by 4% at BWI, 9% at National and 17% at Dulles, according to Airlines for America.
Nationwide passenger traffic reached 1.01 billion through November 2024, Bureau of Transportation Statistics data showed. Once December was included, the annual figure was expected to exceed the record of 1.05 billion set in 2023, which was itself slightly higher than the 2019 total.
Federal airport rankings based on 2024 traffic were not expected until mid-summer. In 2023, BWI ranked 23rd nationally by passenger count, followed by National at 24th and Dulles at 26th. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver International held the top three positions.
MWAA’s board of directors was scheduled to review the traffic data at its March 19 meeting. It would be the board’s first formal meeting since the Jan. 29 midair collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and a regional jet near National Airport. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, killing 67 people.