Winter weather, economic jitters and the fatal Jan. 29 aircraft collision combined for a challenging start to 2025 at Reagan National Airport.
Acknowledging 2025 has opened as “a turbulent year,” the president of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) told the body’s board of directors he believed the long-term outlook remains positive — despite ongoing uncertainty.
“I’m still kind of bullish on where we’re going,” Jack Potter said at the board’s Wednesday meeting.
It was the body’s first meeting since the tragic crash adjacent to Reagan National, and the first since impacts of the Trump administration’s downsizing and tariff initiatives began to take hold.
Add to that a snow-filled winter season that caused disruptions at both Reagan National and Washington Dulles International. All told, events of recent months had “an impact on both airports, but particularly on Reagan,” Potter said at MWAA’s strategic development meeting.
“Hopefully, spring brings about a different environment,” he said. “Better weather comes, we get past some of the economic challenges.”
That was the same view of MWAA board chair Thorn Pozen.
“It’s been a long winter,” Pozen said. “Let’s go, spring.”
From MWAA’s March 19 meeting:
Passenger counts down, delays/cancellations up: Enplanements at Reagan National in January totaled 863,891, down 1.6% from a year before and 3.2% below expectations, airport officials said.
The primary drivers of the decline were winter weather, coupled with three days of reduced flight levels after the Jan. 29 crash.
Preliminary passenger counts for February suggest a more substantial year-over-year drop, Potter said. Weather, economic uncertainty and reductions in aircraft-arrival rates imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration after the crash all played a role.
The arrival rate stood at a maximum of 32 aircraft per hour before Jan. 29 but dropped to 28 by FAA officials on Jan. 30. It was reduced again to 26 on Feb. 6 before being increased to 28 on Feb. 11 and 30 on Feb. 28.
Preliminary figures also show that the on-time rate for flights at Reagan National has cratered from 88.7% in February 2024 to 58.5% in February 2025.
“We have these rolling delays over the course of the day,” Potter said.
The report represented a “sobering update” of the headwinds being faced, said Marc Uncapher, an MWAA board member who co-chairs the strategic development committee.
And it represents a stark change of fortunes following a third consecutive year of record passenger numbers at the 84-year-old airport. In 2024, about 26.3 million passengers used National, the highest number ever.
Wintry weather impacts bottom line: An atypically snowy winter season caused travel disruptions and added additional costs at Reagan National, airport officials said.
To address winter weather impacts at National, MWAA spent an additional $800,000 on chemicals, $600,000 on staff overtime and $250,000 on contractors.
Because the airport’s three runways intersect, snow-plowing efforts at National are more complicated than at Dulles, which has parallel runways.
“We have to shut down all traffic in and out down, and it generally takes an hour,” Potter said of each snow-clearing operation at National.
Dulles, by contrast, “never closed” during the storms of January and February.
But he was somewhat philosophical about the situation.
“We can’t do anything about Mother Nature,” Potter said.
Remembering victims, saluting first responders: MWAA’s day of meetings on March 19 opened with a moment of silence for the 67 victims of the Jan. 29 collision over the Potomac River between an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter.
There also was praise for first responders at the airport and across the region who were called on to assist.
“Folks came together in a way that was deeply moving and incredibly generous,” Pozen said.
The response represented “a gigantic effort,” Potter said. “It was a testament to how comprehensive the emergency response is in the region.”
Parking project ramps up: A timeline is now in place for constructing a 1,400-space temporary parking structure in the airport’s long-term lot.
About half the spaces will be available for use during the first quarter of 2026, with the remainder by midyear, Airports Authority officials said.
While construction occurs, approximately 850 existing parking spaces on the lot will be unavailable. That has led airport officials to caution passengers to plan ahead and reserve parking during peak travel periods.
Planning continues for replacement terminal: MWAA board members on March 19 approved a contract worth up to $108 million over eight years for architectural, engineering and planning services in preparation for replacement of the existing Terminal 1 at Reagan National.
The required FAA approval for the contract was received in February.
The new facility will include nine gates, the same number as currently are found in what is affectionately known as the “banjo terminal” for its circular architecture and a long-necked passageway leading to the rest of the airport. It currently serves Southwest, Frontier and Air Canada flights.
New Va. board members take seats: The March 19 meeting was the first since the appointment of new MWAA board members Kim Clark Pakstys and Paul Sheridan Jr., who Gov. Glenn Youngkin tapped to fill two vacancies among Virginia’s seven seats on the 17-member body.
