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Dulles International Airport’s new 14-gate Concourse E is approaching a key transition as crews prepare restaurant, retail and entertainment spaces for an expected fall opening.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority expects to take possession of the concessions facilities from Turner Construction Co. on March 30. Contractors for concessionaires will then be allowed to begin building out their spaces on April 1.
Chryssa Westerlund, MWAA’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer, told the authority’s board on March 18 that the coming months would require an “all hands on deck” effort. Authority staff will regularly visit the site to monitor progress, she said.
MWAA announced the concourse’s first concessionaires in September. The restaurant lineup includes Ellie Bird, Good Company Doughnuts & Cafe, Bonchon, Aventino, Rusty Taco and Honor Brewing.
A food court will feature Wendy’s, Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’, Dos Toros Taqueria and Stratus Bar. Retail and entertainment options will include two duty-free stores, the electronics retailer Travel Tech and a Gameway video-gaming lounge.
MWAA, Turner Construction and retail-area manager Fraport met with concessionaires and their contractors in February to coordinate the work ahead.
Thomas Beatty, an executive vice president and chief operations officer at Dulles, described progress on Concourse E and other capital projects as “steady and advanced.” Interior construction remains active, with MWAA working alongside United Airlines, the concourse’s primary tenant.
The 435,000-square-foot facility is intended to expand terminal capacity across the Dulles campus. It will offer direct AeroTrain connections to the main terminal and most other terminals.
Expansion Plans Reach Far Beyond Concourse E
Concourse E is part of the $7 billion Dulles master plan approved by MWAA directors in July 2025. The plan is designed to prepare the airport to serve as many as 90 million passengers annually—more than three times its current passenger volume.
President Donald Trump has since called for a more ambitious modernization and expansion effort. In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation has requested proposals from firms for terminal redesigns and other potential airport improvements.
MWAA President and CEO Jack Potter said at the March 18 meeting that the authority was working closely with airport partners and the Transportation Department. He also said MWAA appreciated the Trump administration’s interest.
Board members took another step toward future redevelopment by voting to seek expressions of interest from firms that could relocate support operations to a 238-acre site in the southern portion of Dulles’ 13,000-acre property.
Facilities considered for relocation include in-flight catering kitchens, air cargo operations, cold-chain and perishables facilities, aircraft maintenance and repair operations, hangars and ground-service equipment areas.
Prospective participants must, at minimum, submit plans to move six cargo bays to the new site by 2031.
The projects would use a design-build-finance-operate-maintain model. Under that arrangement, a private entity would design, construct, finance, operate and maintain the facilities for a specified period before transferring ownership to MWAA.