Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall
Airport (IATA: BWI, ICAO: KBWI, FAA LID: BWI) serves
the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area (U.S.). It
is commonly called BWI or BWI Airport, its IATA Airport
Code, an initialism for "Baltimore/Washington
International". The airport is located in Linthicum,
Maryland, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Baltimore and
30 miles (48 km) north of Washington, D.C.
A record 21.04 million passengers passed through BWI in
2007, representing a 1.7 percent increase in annual
traffic. In 2006, traffic grew by 4.8 percent, to 20.7
million people.
Planning for a new airport on 3,200 acres (13 km²) to
serve the Baltimore/Washington area began just after
the end of World War II, and ground was broken in 1947.
Located near Friendship Church in Anne Arundel County,
Maryland, 10 miles (16 km) south of Baltimore and 30
miles (48 km) north of Washington, D.C., Friendship
International Airport was dedicated on June 24, 1950,
by President Harry Truman. Regular commercial service
started the following month. Jet service started in
1957 when the first Boeing 707s were placed in service.
The State of Maryland, through the Maryland Department
of Transportation (MDOT), purchased Friendship
International Airport from the City of Baltimore for
$36 million in 1972. Under MDOT, the Maryland State
Aviation Administration took over airfield operations
and grew from three employees to more than 200. Plans
to upgrade, improve, and modernize all Maryland airport
facilities were announced almost immediately by the
Secretary of Transportation, Harry Hughes. The airport
was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Airport
in 1973. However, the IATA code remained as "BAL"
because "BWI" was already used by another airport until
1982 when it was changed to "BWI". The new name was
part of an effort to grab a portion of the
Washington-area travel market.
The first phase of BWI modernization was completed in
1974 at a cost of $30 million. Upgrades included
improved instrument landing capabilities and runway
systems, and construction of three new air cargo
terminals, expanding the airport's freight capacity to
2.53 acres.
The passenger terminal renovation program was complete
in 1979, the most dramatic work of the airport's
modernization. The BWI terminal more than doubled in
size to 14.58 acres; the number of gate positions
increased from 20 to 27. The total cost of project was
$70 million. To continue the work, the BWI Development
Council was established to support initiatives for
airport development.
BWI Rail Station opened in 1980, providing a rail
connection to passengers on the busy Northeast
Corridor. BWI became first airport in the U.S. to be
served by a dedicated intercity rail station. In
particular, the station provided relatively easy
transit access to Washington, D.C., something
Washington Dulles International Airport currently
lacks. In the late 1990s, a new international terminal
(Concourse E) was added, though Dulles continues to
hold the lion's share of the region's international
flights, and BWI has not attracted many long-haul
international carriers. Air Jamaica, British Airways
and (Icelandair ceased service to BWI in late 2007)
have had a presence at BWI for many years, however
Icelandair left the airport in early 2008.[2] Other
airlines, such as KLM, AerLingus, Ghana Airways,
Mexicana, Ladeco, Air Aruba, and El Al, started but
later stopped flying to BWI. Military flights, operated
by AMC, continue to have a signficiant presence at BWI.
For much of the 1990s, BWI was a major hub for US
Airways, but that airline's financial difficulties in
the wake of the dot-com bust and the September 11
attacks forced it to significantly reduce its presence
at the airport. The airport has been a major haven for
low-cost flights in the Baltimore/Washington
Metropolitan Area since the arrival of Southwest
Airlines in September of 1993, and in the early 2000s
Southwest significantly increased its operations there.
Southwest is now BWI's largest carrier, accounting for
about 52.5% of passengers in 2007. The other major
airlines with a significant presence at the airport are
Air Tran (11.82%), Delta Airlines (6.56%), United
Airlines (6.44%), and US Airways (6.40%).
To accommodate Southwest's extensive presence at the
airport, in 2005 Concourses A and B were expanded,
renovated, and integrated with one another to house all
of that airline's operations there. This new facility
opened on May 22, 2005. On October 1 of that year, the
airport was renamed again, to Baltimore/Washington
International Thurgood Marshall Airport, to honor the
former US Supreme Court justice, who grew up in
Baltimore. The more recent renaming has not resulted in
a change to the IATA and ICAO locater codes.