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Trump holds meeting to discuss plan to renovate Washington Dulles Airport

The White House announced that U.S. president Donald Trump will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss 'his plan to overhaul the main international airport in the U.S. Capital area. He had harshly criticised its design?in December.

Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, is expected to attend the meeting about Washington Dulles International Airport.

The airport, which is located about 25 miles (40 km) from the U.S. capital and opened in 1962, is set for a new 435,000-square-foot (40,412-square-meter), 14-gate concourse this fall serving ?United Airlines customers.

The airport authority announced on Tuesday that it had a record-breaking year in 2025. It handled?29 millions total passengers, an increase of 6.4%. Meanwhile, traffic at the rival Reagan National Airport fell by 5.4%.

In December, Trump said that he would rebuild Dulles because it was "not a good airport." It should be an amazing airport... The airport is a "great building but a bad one."

Trump has said that he is working on a new design for Dulles.

The terminal building of the airport was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen. It is a unique structure, with two sides that have sloping rooftops. The building is regarded as a prime example of Mid-Century Modern Architecture. In December, the Transportation Department sought proposals for a complete overhaul of the airport. This could include tearing down the main terminal.

The agency criticised the "jet-fuel smell" in the concourses and the "paltry number" of gates in Dulles' main terminal. It added that Dulles was "no longer an airport fit and "grand enough" for the capital city of the United States.

The Metropolitan?Washington Airports Authority operates the airport under a lease of 50 years approved by Congress.

Other media outlets reported that Trump had offered to 'drop his hold on funding of a $16 billion New York Hudson River tunnel project if Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer supported the renaming Dulles Airport and New York Penn Station after Trump.

Last week, Florida lawmakers approved legislation renaming the Palm Beach International Airport to Trump.

Dulles was named for John Foster Dulles who served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight Eisenhower during the 1950s. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, Jamie Freed, and David Shepardson)

(source: Reuters)