Reagan National Airport recorded its lowest annual passenger count in three years in 2025, even as Dulles International Airport set an all-time record.
Just under 24.9 million passengers traveled through DCA last year, down 5.3% from 26.3 million in 2024, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) reported yesterday (Tuesday) — confirming preliminary numbers released last month.
It’s the lowest passenger count since 2022, when 24 million passengers flew out of the airport as air travel began to recover from a pandemic-era downturn. Passenger totals at Reagan National then increased 25.5 million in 2023 before hitting the all-time high in 2024.
The airport’s calendar-year 2026 budget, adopted in late 2025, anticipates a modest increase in passenger totals this year.
Despite the decline in 2025, passenger totals at the 85-year-old airport remained above pre-pandemic levels. Travelers totaled 23.5 million in 2018 and 23.9 million in 2019, according to MWAA data, before bottoming out at 7.6 million in 2020 and rising to 14 million in 2021.
The reasons for 2025’s year-over-year decline are multiple:
- The seven-week federal government shutdown in the fall
- The fatal helicopter-jet collision of January that led to flight restrictions for several weeks
- A rough winter-weather season in early 2025
- Softening demand for government-related travel owing to the Trump administration’s downsizing efforts
While the passenger count at Reagan National was down, Dulles set all-time records of 29 million overall passengers and 10.5 million travelers on international flights.
The combined passenger total of just under 54 million at the two airports also was a record-breaker, MWAA officials said.
The 2025 travel figures will be dissected when MWAA’s board of directors meets on March 18.
At the end of 2025, Reagan National was served by eight airlines providing more than 400 daily departures to 108 destinations. Dulles was served by 46 airlines providing more than 340 daily departures to 164 destinations.
A complete ranking of U.S. airports by 2025 passenger counts is not expected until the summer. Based on 2024 data, the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) ranked Dulles as the 28th busiest airport in the nation, with National 30th.
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) has not yet released December 2025 or year-end passenger totals. The airport, operated by the Maryland state government, reported 25.3 million passengers for the 12 months through November 2025. That’s down 6.3% from the same period a year earlier.
In 2024, BWI ranked as 27th busiest airport in the nation, according to BTS data.
For 2024, the busiest airports in the nation were Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International, Dallas/Fort Worth International and Denver International. The three were main hubs for Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines, respectively.
