DC's National Airport - NEW Concourse, Gate 35X, Gravelly Point Park
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Date: 2023-08-28
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Comments and reviews: 30
Mark
Some boring background and thoughts from an architect's perspective.
Dulles Airport was designed by Eero Saarinen (the St Louis Arch, TWA Terminal) and many of Saarinen's staff went on to highly successful careers. Saarinen died prematurely before Dulles was complete, but the senior designer helping him was Cesar Pelli. Years later, Pelli designed the Reagan national that most of us know today. While Pelli's National Airport lacks the elegance of Dulles, it is a very competent, disciplined and mature design. I never really loved Pelli's design, but I always appreciated it and after this gang rpe by a team of some of the worst qualified designers and managers our country has to offer, I really miss what we had.
The addition to National was designed by a firm called PGAL. As a functional or aesthetic bit of architecture, I would give it a D minus. The new entry and security sequence seems to have been designed by a janitor and one of those TSA guys standing in the back who never seems to be paying attention. It is disorienting and completely destroys the experience of coming into the building from Metro or parking. That experience thing is important because people unfamiliar with complex public buildings need a way to size up where they're going and get their heads into the game. Not here. You're just dumped into the thing like you fell into the middle of a Galleria service corridor.
Jeb points out the long ling long long walkway to the new terminal. Funny how the walkway between the other terminals does not seem nearly as dreadful. The quality of the materials and detailing is really second rate by comparison (something I would notice but I think most people perceive. There's just a lot of careless detailing of little things that add up to a building that looks really sloppy. The design whooppees are these ceiling expressions designed by people who are just not very good very good architects when it comes to creating imaginative forms. Some of it looks like a collage of all the additions to major American airports built in the last 10 years. Some of it looks like a high school art class was asked to design their own version of the steel domes and vaults of the Pelli design. Every ten paces I see another missed opportunity.
By contrast, the expansions to Dulles airport accomplish everything the PGAL nightmare does not. They touch the existing building with care, they create new architectural forms and shapes that feel fresh and new but are founded in the Dulles' design, they don't try to compete, and they never let you feel you left the fancy building (except Terminal C/D, which was always intended to be a temporary building and it seems they're getting ready to replace it at last. The midfield Terminal A/B is a completely different kind of structure but it is as mature and inspiring as (well maybe not quite as much as) the Saarinen terminal.
The new commuter terminal at DCA is a monument to small-minded bureaucrats, myopic planners and average to below-average architects.
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Some boring background and thoughts from an architect's perspective.
Dulles Airport was designed by Eero Saarinen (the St Louis Arch, TWA Terminal) and many of Saarinen's staff went on to highly successful careers. Saarinen died prematurely before Dulles was complete, but the senior designer helping him was Cesar Pelli. Years later, Pelli designed the Reagan national that most of us know today. While Pelli's National Airport lacks the elegance of Dulles, it is a very competent, disciplined and mature design. I never really loved Pelli's design, but I always appreciated it and after this gang rpe by a team of some of the worst qualified designers and managers our country has to offer, I really miss what we had.
The addition to National was designed by a firm called PGAL. As a functional or aesthetic bit of architecture, I would give it a D minus. The new entry and security sequence seems to have been designed by a janitor and one of those TSA guys standing in the back who never seems to be paying attention. It is disorienting and completely destroys the experience of coming into the building from Metro or parking. That experience thing is important because people unfamiliar with complex public buildings need a way to size up where they're going and get their heads into the game. Not here. You're just dumped into the thing like you fell into the middle of a Galleria service corridor.
Jeb points out the long ling long long walkway to the new terminal. Funny how the walkway between the other terminals does not seem nearly as dreadful. The quality of the materials and detailing is really second rate by comparison (something I would notice but I think most people perceive. There's just a lot of careless detailing of little things that add up to a building that looks really sloppy. The design whooppees are these ceiling expressions designed by people who are just not very good very good architects when it comes to creating imaginative forms. Some of it looks like a collage of all the additions to major American airports built in the last 10 years. Some of it looks like a high school art class was asked to design their own version of the steel domes and vaults of the Pelli design. Every ten paces I see another missed opportunity.
By contrast, the expansions to Dulles airport accomplish everything the PGAL nightmare does not. They touch the existing building with care, they create new architectural forms and shapes that feel fresh and new but are founded in the Dulles' design, they don't try to compete, and they never let you feel you left the fancy building (except Terminal C/D, which was always intended to be a temporary building and it seems they're getting ready to replace it at last. The midfield Terminal A/B is a completely different kind of structure but it is as mature and inspiring as (well maybe not quite as much as) the Saarinen terminal.
The new commuter terminal at DCA is a monument to small-minded bureaucrats, myopic planners and average to below-average architects.
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Brian
Should DCA be a hub? Well it is, for American. But it should never be a more than that. There are 3 airports which serve the greater DC area and the current FAA policy has effected a great balance amongst those. Dulles is a hub (united) and moreover, it is the DC area's primary starting point for international flights. BWI is a sub-hub, but with extensive domestic flights to all locations in the country and some international flights. The FAA has imposed a 650 mile restricted flight radius (with some exceptions) on DCA. Meaning flights from DCA cannot usually exceed that 650. But that's plenty to get you to mega hubs like Chicago, Atlanta. With this policy, the three airports are almost completely balanced at about 24 million passengers served each. DCA is very limited in terms of runways and the ability to increase those. Things are fine they way they are.
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Should DCA be a hub? Well it is, for American. But it should never be a more than that. There are 3 airports which serve the greater DC area and the current FAA policy has effected a great balance amongst those. Dulles is a hub (united) and moreover, it is the DC area's primary starting point for international flights. BWI is a sub-hub, but with extensive domestic flights to all locations in the country and some international flights. The FAA has imposed a 650 mile restricted flight radius (with some exceptions) on DCA. Meaning flights from DCA cannot usually exceed that 650. But that's plenty to get you to mega hubs like Chicago, Atlanta. With this policy, the three airports are almost completely balanced at about 24 million passengers served each. DCA is very limited in terms of runways and the ability to increase those. Things are fine they way they are.
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Lauren
DC resident here! So -- funny you should say something about regional jet after regional jet -- DCA has a very interesting reason why they have so many seemingly 'odd' destinations. it has semi to do with congressional members lobbying to get their district or regional cities 'nonstop' flights into the takeoff slots so they don't have to connect through hubs since most of them fly home every weekend. I don't remember the exact full details, but a lobbyist told me that they have a lot of sway considering they are the ones appropriating money to the airport authority and are in charge of appropriating the take off and landing slots at high density airports like DCA.
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DC resident here! So -- funny you should say something about regional jet after regional jet -- DCA has a very interesting reason why they have so many seemingly 'odd' destinations. it has semi to do with congressional members lobbying to get their district or regional cities 'nonstop' flights into the takeoff slots so they don't have to connect through hubs since most of them fly home every weekend. I don't remember the exact full details, but a lobbyist told me that they have a lot of sway considering they are the ones appropriating money to the airport authority and are in charge of appropriating the take off and landing slots at high density airports like DCA.
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Christopher
I used 35X a grand total of once - my last flight on US Airways - to Philadelphia; from there I was flying to DFW. DCA was - and still is - a primarily hub-and-spoke airport - US Airways still uses it as a hub, though they are NOT the primary airline here; Southwest is the primary hub and spoke airline at DCA today, and they use the Main Terminal. American is NOT a hub-and-spoke airline - which is why their passengers are not typically fans of hub-and-spoke airports.
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I used 35X a grand total of once - my last flight on US Airways - to Philadelphia; from there I was flying to DFW. DCA was - and still is - a primarily hub-and-spoke airport - US Airways still uses it as a hub, though they are NOT the primary airline here; Southwest is the primary hub and spoke airline at DCA today, and they use the Main Terminal. American is NOT a hub-and-spoke airline - which is why their passengers are not typically fans of hub-and-spoke airports.
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Boat
I lived in the area for many years. I spent countless hours at the park with my scanner watching the action. I remember when they were building B, C and D and the area housing the new terminal was a hanger temporarily turned into the main terminal. 35X was truly a nightmare. As far as being a hub, while it is constrained, the vast majority of the flights are not allowed to be more than 650 miles limiting potential destinations due to the perimeter rule.
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I lived in the area for many years. I spent countless hours at the park with my scanner watching the action. I remember when they were building B, C and D and the area housing the new terminal was a hanger temporarily turned into the main terminal. 35X was truly a nightmare. As far as being a hub, while it is constrained, the vast majority of the flights are not allowed to be more than 650 miles limiting potential destinations due to the perimeter rule.
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Christopher
As a current ramp employee (started about a year and some months ago) on the the regional side of things, it is a nice place even though any new thing has its drawbacks and bugs until it's really finished. 35X is now closed to even airport employees though. It was nice to use to relax between flights while it was still open. I think its being converted into MWAA offices or something for police and or Menzies.
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As a current ramp employee (started about a year and some months ago) on the the regional side of things, it is a nice place even though any new thing has its drawbacks and bugs until it's really finished. 35X is now closed to even airport employees though. It was nice to use to relax between flights while it was still open. I think its being converted into MWAA offices or something for police and or Menzies.
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pdpgps
When I think of impressive airports I would not put DCA up there. Maybe certain aspects like the approach or interior architecture pre security, but thats it. Id put it maybe a few levels above LGA (the old.
Given the airspace restrictions and limited runway use. I def dont think DCA should be a hub. But its much closer and accessible to DC proper than anyone neighboring airport.
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When I think of impressive airports I would not put DCA up there. Maybe certain aspects like the approach or interior architecture pre security, but thats it. Id put it maybe a few levels above LGA (the old.
Given the airspace restrictions and limited runway use. I def dont think DCA should be a hub. But its much closer and accessible to DC proper than anyone neighboring airport.
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mrath
DCA has become a minor East Coast hub for American. I know originally US Air(ways) offered service between DCA and all the business hubs of the east coast, and American has expanded on that. And thus, there are opportunities, based on flight schedules, to connect through DCA as a result. Another good place for plane spotting in Washington is the field across from the MLK memorial.
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DCA has become a minor East Coast hub for American. I know originally US Air(ways) offered service between DCA and all the business hubs of the east coast, and American has expanded on that. And thus, there are opportunities, based on flight schedules, to connect through DCA as a result. Another good place for plane spotting in Washington is the field across from the MLK memorial.
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Rich
Regarding the use of regional jet after regional jet has the distance limitation for non-stop jets been relaxed or eliminated? I remember, such as Denver, Los Angeles, could not be served by non-stop flights unless they served Dulles Airport. As I remember, the National runways were not long enough for some aircraft types. Politicians also liked having flights close to downtown.
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Regarding the use of regional jet after regional jet has the distance limitation for non-stop jets been relaxed or eliminated? I remember, such as Denver, Los Angeles, could not be served by non-stop flights unless they served Dulles Airport. As I remember, the National runways were not long enough for some aircraft types. Politicians also liked having flights close to downtown.
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Salatiel
My fondest memory with the Gate 35X was my service dog. He does not like this gate. PERIOD. He whines or barks as he dislike to wait in the bus that is not going anywhere. He knew what the bus are and it to transport but we just stood by the door and he waited patiently then lost it. Glad it is not there anymore. He was well behaved when hes on CRJ 200 floor.
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My fondest memory with the Gate 35X was my service dog. He does not like this gate. PERIOD. He whines or barks as he dislike to wait in the bus that is not going anywhere. He knew what the bus are and it to transport but we just stood by the door and he waited patiently then lost it. Glad it is not there anymore. He was well behaved when hes on CRJ 200 floor.
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Robert
DCA Should not be used as a hub, the airport is just to small.
I flew in and out of DCA/ National, and not a whole lot of room to operate, its a civilian version of a land aircraft carrier.
It is only open because the politicians Congressman & Senators wanted it open, otherwise it would be considered to un-safe to operate from.
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DCA Should not be used as a hub, the airport is just to small.
I flew in and out of DCA/ National, and not a whole lot of room to operate, its a civilian version of a land aircraft carrier.
It is only open because the politicians Congressman & Senators wanted it open, otherwise it would be considered to un-safe to operate from.
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afcgeo
Am I the only one who feels that DCA is basically a twin to LGA? They both have runway parks, both are secondary, domestic airports with difficult, visual approaches over water, both in the middle of their cities and are limited in the size of aircraft they can take to the 767. Theyre also major shuttle pairs.
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Am I the only one who feels that DCA is basically a twin to LGA? They both have runway parks, both are secondary, domestic airports with difficult, visual approaches over water, both in the middle of their cities and are limited in the size of aircraft they can take to the 767. Theyre also major shuttle pairs.
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Steven
The airport should continue to offer flights to many destinations. So it helps that it is a mini-hub. If it only offered flights to hubs like Atlanta, Charlotte, Newark, JFK and Ohare, it would be useless. It would mean trudging put to IAD or BWI for flights since DCA would offer many fewer convenient flights.
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The airport should continue to offer flights to many destinations. So it helps that it is a mini-hub. If it only offered flights to hubs like Atlanta, Charlotte, Newark, JFK and Ohare, it would be useless. It would mean trudging put to IAD or BWI for flights since DCA would offer many fewer convenient flights.
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Evil
5: 56 For those of you who did not get the experience and maybe even the privilege of flying out of Gate 35X here at Washington National Airport, the best way to describe it is like if a bus terminal were put inside an airport, because that's really what it was.
So like Newark, then?
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5: 56 For those of you who did not get the experience and maybe even the privilege of flying out of Gate 35X here at Washington National Airport, the best way to describe it is like if a bus terminal were put inside an airport, because that's really what it was.
So like Newark, then?
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Darren
Way back 1988-1991 going to school back east coast, gravelly park have been one of my favorite place to relax and watch airplanes land/take off miss the noisy and powerful Pratt engines powered 727/md80 series and 737-200s take off with power and force now here today, too quiet
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Way back 1988-1991 going to school back east coast, gravelly park have been one of my favorite place to relax and watch airplanes land/take off miss the noisy and powerful Pratt engines powered 727/md80 series and 737-200s take off with power and force now here today, too quiet
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Bradley
35X. that awful gate is the main reason I dislike DCA with my whole heart. Getting switched from gate 39 to 35X with an infant. and not being allowed to use the elevator since we weren't disabled made for the most frustrating airport experience to date. Glad to see its gone!
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35X. that awful gate is the main reason I dislike DCA with my whole heart. Getting switched from gate 39 to 35X with an infant. and not being allowed to use the elevator since we weren't disabled made for the most frustrating airport experience to date. Glad to see its gone!
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littleferrhis
I talked with a buddy of mine who flies E175s. I used to fly in and out of here all the time. They generally do a full rnav approach in here with both vertical and lateral GPS guidance, so the only part the pilots generally fly is that last 200 feet.
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I talked with a buddy of mine who flies E175s. I used to fly in and out of here all the time. They generally do a full rnav approach in here with both vertical and lateral GPS guidance, so the only part the pilots generally fly is that last 200 feet.
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Good
Sitting here in the lounge on the 14th floor of the J. W. Marriott watching the inbound traffic into DCA flying past the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, while watching a Jeb Brooks video on DCA. It doesn't get much better than this!
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Sitting here in the lounge on the 14th floor of the J. W. Marriott watching the inbound traffic into DCA flying past the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, while watching a Jeb Brooks video on DCA. It doesn't get much better than this!
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Kenneth
National, except a bus over a train sound similar to Adelaide Airport you could walk from the train station all the way to airport. Even following the river, it is about 10km. Though a bus from the city and one from Elizabeth stop at it.
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National, except a bus over a train sound similar to Adelaide Airport you could walk from the train station all the way to airport. Even following the river, it is about 10km. Though a bus from the city and one from Elizabeth stop at it.
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USN
The only better views of DCA I had were from the crew chiefs door of a CH-53. Was stationed at PAX and the DC trips were always nice especially at night. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future, FLY NAVY!
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The only better views of DCA I had were from the crew chiefs door of a CH-53. Was stationed at PAX and the DC trips were always nice especially at night. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future, FLY NAVY!
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MrLongSleeves
As someone who lives 20 minutes away from this airport, I love it. The only thing is that Im not a fan that American Airlines is the biggest airline here. Other than that, I love DCA and Im proud to call it my home airport.
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As someone who lives 20 minutes away from this airport, I love it. The only thing is that Im not a fan that American Airlines is the biggest airline here. Other than that, I love DCA and Im proud to call it my home airport.
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TXnine7nine
I've only flown into and out of DCA once. It was on Frontier to and from Denver. I went through A concourse and absolutely loved it. I didn't care that it was cramped with narrow hallways taking me where I needed to go.
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I've only flown into and out of DCA once. It was on Frontier to and from Denver. I went through A concourse and absolutely loved it. I didn't care that it was cramped with narrow hallways taking me where I needed to go.
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TimKS
As DCA being my home airport, I 100% think the airport should be a hub for international routes. It already gets millions of passengers a year and could get way more if it were turned into an international hub.
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As DCA being my home airport, I 100% think the airport should be a hub for international routes. It already gets millions of passengers a year and could get way more if it were turned into an international hub.
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MDL
Hey Jeb, great video! Shorecrest Drive in Dallas, which winds through Bachman Lake Park is right outside the north perimeter fence of Dallas Love Field. Great for the same sort of up close plane spottingcheers!
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Hey Jeb, great video! Shorecrest Drive in Dallas, which winds through Bachman Lake Park is right outside the north perimeter fence of Dallas Love Field. Great for the same sort of up close plane spottingcheers!
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Average
Jeb I flew in to DCX in 2022 on American and to say I wish I could've admired the long walk to Concourse E I would've but I had to literally RUN to catch my flight due to how late my previous one came in
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Jeb I flew in to DCX in 2022 on American and to say I wish I could've admired the long walk to Concourse E I would've but I had to literally RUN to catch my flight due to how late my previous one came in
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Caroline
Nice video! BWI also has an outdoor observation area where you can watch planes come in. It also has a trail around the airport and links to other trails in the region where the airport is located.
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Nice video! BWI also has an outdoor observation area where you can watch planes come in. It also has a trail around the airport and links to other trails in the region where the airport is located.
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REDtendo64
Technically, DCA is a hub of sorts for American. They call it a Focus City which is a fancy way of calling it a small-scale hub. Another airport that falls under this term is PHX.
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Technically, DCA is a hub of sorts for American. They call it a Focus City which is a fancy way of calling it a small-scale hub. Another airport that falls under this term is PHX.
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dcjimr1
Ah, Gate 35X. it would always put me in an immediate bad mood if I saw that on my ticket. What a nightmare. I haven't seen the new concourse yet so thanks for the review!
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Ah, Gate 35X. it would always put me in an immediate bad mood if I saw that on my ticket. What a nightmare. I haven't seen the new concourse yet so thanks for the review!
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Steven
I personally avoid Regan National like the plague. If you go there, you know your going to have to take Satan's chariot or a lawn dart (ERJ145) in or out of there.
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I personally avoid Regan National like the plague. If you go there, you know your going to have to take Satan's chariot or a lawn dart (ERJ145) in or out of there.
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Colton
Also worth noting that BWI has an observation park (complete with a walking loop around the airport and an actual playground) at the approach end of Runway 33L.
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Also worth noting that BWI has an observation park (complete with a walking loop around the airport and an actual playground) at the approach end of Runway 33L.
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