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Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is a public airport located 25 miles (40 km) west of the central business district of Washington, D.C., in Loudoun County and Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.[1] It serves the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The airport is named after John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is a major hub for United Airlines and a focus city for JetBlue Airways.




On a typical day, 1,800 to 2,000 flights are now handled at Dulles, up from 1000 to 1200 in 2003. It remains the second busiest trans-Atlantic gateway on the Eastern Seaboard. The inception of low-cost carrier Independence Air in 2004 propelled IAD from being the 24th busiest airport in the United States to 15th, and one of the top 30 busiest in the world. At its peak of 600 flights daily, Independence, combined with service from JetBlue and AirTran, briefly made Dulles the largest low-cost hub in the United States. Southwest Airlines began service in fall 2006 after Independence Air's demise. The airport no longer ranks as one of the world's 30 busiest in terms of number of passengers; it ranked 28th in 2006 in traffic movements.



The airport occupies approximately 11,000 acres (45 km²) of land 26 miles (42 km) west of downtown Washington, straddling the border of Fairfax County and Loudoun County, Virginia. It is located within two unincorporated communities, including partly in Chantilly and partly in Dulles. The airport is west of Herndon and southwest of Sterling. In 1958, the former unincorporated community of Willard was torn down to make room for Dulles, and countless roads, homes, stores, and schools were demolished to make room for runways, concourses and other features. Dulles Airport is operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). In 2006, Dulles saw over 23 million passengers through the airport. Because the airport is built on the border of Fairfax County and Loudoun County, it is possible for one to land in Fairfax and deplane in Loudoun.



Source: Wikipedia