Dulles Among Busiest Airports

This past month, Dulles International Airport moved up in ranking to become the fifth-busiest airport in the United States due to the new, low-fare airline Independence Air. Dulles currently operates 600-800 more airplanes a day than it did a year ago when it was ranked the twenty-fourth busiest airline in the country. Independence Air's 50-seat jets have brought 1 million new passengers to Dulles since it commenced this last summer. Dulles has also grown busier due to increased traffic from JetBlue as well as corporate jets and private airplanes who were no longer allowed to land at the Reagan National Airport after the September 11, terrorist attacks. Consequently, Dulles typically handles 1,800 to 2,000 flights on a daily basis. Due to the greater amount of traffic at the airport, Dulles is in need of additional staff.