Terminal 1 at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, the classic 1941 columned building above, is the focus of a plan to add nine gates and a preflight “passenger processing facility” that will be used mainly by Southwest Airlines.
The major part of the $835 million project involves replacing a concourse added behind Terminal 1 in the 1970s with a more spacious concourse for the gates. Also part of the plan is the processing facility that will handle passenger check-in and security; it will be located between the terminal and the newer Terminal 2, and will be built on the site of a current taxi staging area.
The new concourse includes 10,000 square feet of space that could be used as an airline lounge, a move that Southwest has been hinting at. Construction is expected to be completed by 2031.
Image: DCA’s classic original terminal, focus of the new expansion (Famartin/Wikimedia Commons)
