DULLES EXPANDS WITH NEW CONCOURSE

by Alice Reid

Thursday, January 15, 1998

A new $130 million midfield terminal will open Feb. 1 at Dulles International Airport, providing the growing facility west of Washington with 17 additional gates and enough space to serve about 5,000 more passengers a day.

Built as part of a $1 billion project at Dulles that includes an expanded Main Terminal, new roads and parking structures, the new Concourse B is the first of three planned midfield buildings.

When finished over the next four or five decades, the new terminals will increase the number of gates at Dulles from 64 to 150, with passenger traffic projected to grow from 13 million passengers to 55 million annually during that time.

"The things we are doing here are all about growth," said James Wilding, general manager of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, during a preview tour of the new facility yesterday. "And the midfield terminal is key to Dulles's growth." The authority operates both Dulles and Washington National airports.

With expansion at National limited by its small site and federally imposed noise and congestion controls, Dulles, once thought to be an isolated white elephant in the Virginia countryside, is slated to become the region's major airport.

At a time when the growth of airline traffic is unprecedented in the United States, Dulles's new terminal is the third major airport facility to open in the region since July. At that time, National opened its new $450 million terminal. In December, Baltimore-Washington International Airport introduced a $140 million international pier.

For now, Dulles's existing 50-gate Midfield Concourse, which has been cobbled together out of temporary structures to meet growing traffic volume, will remain in operation. Passengers will continue to check in for flights at the Main Terminal and ride the airport's 41 shuttle vehicles, known as mobile lounges, out to the concourses to catch their flights.

Eventually, a subway train could be installed to link all the midfield terminals with the Main Terminal.

When the quarter-mile skylit Concourse B opens next month, six airlines (including commuter divisions of Continental and US Airways) will occupy gates there. Seven more will move in through the spring. That will give Dulles the capacity to handle nearly 40,000 passengers daily -- up from about 35,000. About 45,000 pass through National every day.

Like the new terminal at National and a growing number of terminals elsewhere, the concourse will be as much a place to shop as to catch a plane. Liz Claiborne clothing, Bally shoes and leather goods and America souvenirs and memorabilia -- as well as a 3,000-square-foot duty-free store -- are among the 10 shops that passengers will be able to sample.

For the thirsty and hungry, Concourse B will offer two brew pubs, a California Pizza Kitchen, Starbucks and Ben & Jerry's -- but not all at first. Starbucks and the Old Dominion Brew Pub will open Feb. 1, with other food vendors arriving gradually as the airlines move in during the spring.

Within the next few months, airport officials hope to begin construction of a 1,200-foot tunnel linking the new midfield concourse with the Main Terminal. The tunnel, equipped with moving sidewalks, would replace the mobile lounges. Plans are also in the works to add moving sidewalks to the new concourse's 44-foot-wide main corridor.

Yet to be hashed out by airport officials is a possible route for a subway linking the airport's concourses. Such trains have become common at large airports such as Atlanta's and Denver's.

Yesterday, airport officials touted the flexibility of the new midfield concourse, which is plain and gray so as not to detract from architect Eero Saarinen's landmark Main Terminal.

"This building is ideally designed to be added onto indefinitely," said airport manager Keith Meurlin, adding that the first addition will be a facility for commuter airlines on the east end of the concourse. On the west end, a 27-gate extension will be added. CAPTION: NEW DULLES TERMINAL New Midfield Concourse at Dulles International Airport, at a glance:

Located: 1,200 feet south of the Main Terminal.

Size: 1,440 feet long by 142 feet wide with more than 422,000 square feet on two levels.

To open Feb. 1 with six airlines: America West, Continental, Continental Express, US Airways, US Airways Express and Virgin Atlantic. Remaining airlines to move in gradually by mid May: Aeroflot, All Nippon, Air France, Comair, Delta and Delta Express, Northwest.

17 gates, all but two spoken for.

To be served by Mobile Lounges from the Main Terminal. Take shuttles to Concourse B.

Food and Drink: Initially, a Starbucks that serves sandwiches as well as coffee, and an Old Dominion Brew Pub. By the end of March, additional food concessions will include: Ben&Jerry's, Sweet Factory, Burger King, California Pizza Kitchen and Sam Adams Brew Pub.

Shops: Duty Free Shop, America, Bally, D.C. Marketplace, Faber News & Gifts, Liz Claiborne, Sunglass Hut, Waldenbooks, Watch Station and World News.

(By the end of March, nearly all shops will be up and running, according to the Westfield Corp., which manages retail at Dulles.) CAPTION: The tower of the new Concourse B, part of a $1 billion expansion at Dulles. In foreground is Main Terminal. CAPTION: A construction worker puts finishing touches on the new Dulles terminal.

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