Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport | |||||||||||||||||||
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Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner/Operator | Maryland Aviation Administration ( MDOT MAA) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Serves | |||||||||||||||||||
Location | Anne Arundel County, Maryland, U.S. [2] | ||||||||||||||||||
Opened | June 24, 1950 | ||||||||||||||||||
Operating base for | Southwest Airlines [3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 143 ft / 44 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 39°10′31″N 76°40′06″W / 39.17528°N 76.66833°W | ||||||||||||||||||
Website |
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Maps | |||||||||||||||||||
FAA airport diagram | |||||||||||||||||||
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Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2023) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport ( IATA: BWI, ICAO: KBWI, FAA LID: BWI) is an international airport in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, [2] located 9 mi (14 km) south of downtown Baltimore and 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. [6] [7]
BWI is one of three major airports along with Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that serve the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area. [8]
The airport serves as one of several operating bases for Southwest Airlines. In 2022, it served 11,151,169 passengers, making it the second-busiest airport in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area after Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the 25th-busiest airport in the United States as of 2022. [9] BWI covers 3,160 acres (12.8 km2) of land and contains three runways. [10] [11]
The airport is named after Thurgood Marshall, a Baltimore native who was the first African American to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Planning for a new airport on 3,200 acres (1,300 ha) to serve the Baltimore–Washington area began just before the end of World War II. In 1944, the Baltimore Aviation Commission announced its decision that the best location to build a new airport would be on a 2,100-acre (850 ha) tract of land near Linthicum Heights. [12] [13] The cost of building the airport was estimated at $9 million. [13] The site was chosen because it was a 15-minute drive from downtown Baltimore; close to the Pennsylvania Railroad line, the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad line and the proposed Baltimore–Washington Parkway; and visibility was generally good. [13] An alternate site along Gov. Ritchie Highway at Furnace Branch was rejected by the United States War Department, and another possible site at Lipin's Corner was deemed too far from Baltimore. [13] The State Aviation Commission approved of the Linthicum Heights site in 1946. [14]
Much of the land was purchased from Friendship Methodist Church in 1946, [15] and ground was broken on May 2, 1947. [16] [17] Friendship Methodist Church held its last service on Easter Sunday in 1948. [18] Friendship Methodist Church was razed to make room for the new airport. [18] In addition, several pieces of land were bought, [19] and 170 bodies buried in a cemetery were moved. [20] Baltimore–Fort Meade Road was moved to the west to make way for the airport's construction. [21]
Friendship International Airport was dedicated on June 24, 1950, by President Harry S. Truman. Truman arrived in the then official presidential plane a Douglas DC-6 from nearby Washington National Airport carrying the Governor of Maryland, William Preston Lane Jr., as well as Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. on his first aircraft flight. [22] The cost to construct the airport totaled $15 million. [23] The following month the airlines moved to the new airport from the old Baltimore Municipal Airport (Harbor Field in southeast Baltimore at 39°15′N 76°32′W / 39.25°N 76.53°W). Eastern Airlines flew the first scheduled flight, a DC-3, into the airport at 12:01 am on July 23, 1950. [23] Seven minutes later, the same plane was also the first flight to depart from the airport. [23] 300 people came to watch the first flight arrive and depart. [23]
The Official Airline Guide for April 1957 shows 52 weekday departures: 19 Eastern, 12 Capital, 8 American, 4 National, 3 TWA, 3 United, 2 Delta, and 1 Allegheny. Miami had a couple of nonstop flights, but westward nonstop flights did not reach beyond Ohio; Baltimore's reach expanded when jet service started. The early Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s could not use Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport did not open until 1962, so Baltimore became Washington's jet airport in May–June 1959 when American and TWA began transcontinental 707 flights. [24] By 1963, Friendship Int'l Airport was equipped with a 9,450 foot (2,880 m) runway, which could handle any commercial jet aircraft at that time. [25]
The Maryland Department of Transportation purchased Friendship International Airport from the City of Baltimore for $36 million in 1972. [26] Under MDOT, the Maryland State Aviation Administration took over airfield operations and grew from three employees to more than 200. Plans to upgrade, improve, and modernize all Maryland airport facilities were announced almost immediately by the Secretary of Transportation, Harry Hughes.
To attract passengers from the Washington metropolitan area, particularly Montgomery and Prince George's counties, [27] the airport was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Airport, effective November 16, 1973. [28] Its IATA code, originally BAL, didn't reflect its new name for seven years until the International Air Transport Association assigned BWI to the airport on April 20, 1980, with the change becoming official six months later on October 26. The BWI code had previously been used by an airport in Bewani, Papua New Guinea. [29]
The first phase of the airport's modernization was completed in 1974 at a cost of $30 million. Upgrades included improved instrument landing capabilities and runway systems, and construction of three new air cargo terminals, expanding the airport's freight capacity to 2.53 acres (1.02 ha). [28]
The terminal renovation program was complete in 1979, the most dramatic work of the airport's modernization, which was designed by DMJM along with Peterson & Brickbauer. [30] The BWI terminal more than doubled in size to 14.58 acres (5.90 ha); the number of gate positions increased from 20 to 27. The total cost was $70 million. To continue the work, the BWI Development Council was established to support initiatives for airport development. [28]
The BWI Rail Station opened in 1980, providing a connection for passengers on the Northeast Corridor through Amtrak. BWI was the first airport in the U.S. with a dedicated intercity rail station. [31] In particular, the station provided rail transit access to Washington, D.C., something that Dulles did not achieve until late 2022. In 1997 a new international terminal (Concourse E), designed by STV Group and William Nicholas Bodouva & Associates, [32] was added, [33] though Dulles continues to hold the lion's share of the region's international flights, and BWI has not attracted many long-haul international carriers. [34] The first transatlantic nonstops were on World Airways about 1981; British Airways arrived at BWI a few years later. Aer Lingus, [35] Air Jamaica, [36] Air Aruba, [37] Air Greenland, El Al, Icelandair, KLM, Air Canada, Ladeco, and Mexicana previously flew to BWI. Military flights, operated by the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command, continue to have a significant presence at BWI. [38] [39]
In the first half of the 1990s runway 15L/33R was extended 1,800 feet (550 m) from 3,199 ft (975 m) to its current length of 5,000 ft (1,500 m), allowing it to be used by small passenger jets like the Boeing 737. [40]
Beginning in the 1980s and for much of the 1990s BWI was a hub for Piedmont Airlines and successor US Airways, but that airline's financial problems in the wake of the dot-com bust, the September 11 attacks, and low fare competition forced it to cut back. The airport has been a haven for low-cost flights in the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan Area since Southwest Airlines' arrival in September 1993 [41] and subsequent expansion in the early 2000s. Southwest is the airport's largest carrier, accounting for 56.12% of passengers carried in 2011. [42] Southwest Airlines currently serves on average 245 daily departures to the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Ghana Airways began service to Accra in July 2000. [43] The airline operated the flight with McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and sought to serve the many people of West African origin residing in the region. [44] [45] [46] In July 2004, the American government prohibited Ghana Airways from flying to the country. According to officials, the company was operating on an expired license and had disobeyed orders to stop flying an unsafe plane. [45] [47] To accommodate Southwest's extensive presence at the airport, in 2005 Concourses A and B were expanded, renovated, and integrated with one another to house all of that airline's operations there for their major operating base. This new facility, designed by URS Corporation, opened on May 22, 2005. On October 1 of that year, the airport was renamed again, becoming "Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport", to honor former US Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, who grew up in Baltimore. [48] [49]
North American Airlines introduced a link to Accra via Banjul in June 2006, marking the return of direct flights between Baltimore and Africa. [50] [51] The carrier employed Boeing 767s on the route. [52] Afterward, it made the Accra flight nonstop and added a route to Lagos. North American ended all scheduled service in May 2008. [50] [53] In 2008, Health magazine named BWI the second healthiest airport in the United States. [54] In 2009 the airport had a six percent increase in air travelers due to the proliferation of discount flights. [55] In a 2009 survey of airport service quality by Airports Council International, BWI was the world's top ranking airport in the 15-to-25-million-passenger category. [56] BWI also ranked seventh, in medium-sized airports, based on customer satisfaction conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. [57]
On August 5, 2014, the airport's little-used runway 04-22 was permanently closed. [58] It was 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) long and used primarily when the main runways needed to be closed for repairs. The last operation on the runway was a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago Midway that arrived at 4:18 AM. [59]
In 2015, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced they would start flights from the airport to Guadeloupe and Martinique. In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO Bjorn Kjos said "Baltimore is high on the list for long-haul destinations", hinting at further expansion into Europe. In mid-2018, however, the airline ceased all flights out of Baltimore due to heavy financial losses.
In early 2016, a partnership between the airport and Towson University's WTMD Radio Station announced a new concert series that will take place at the terminal's baggage claim on the lower level. [60] The local bands of Wye Oak, Arboretum, and Super City. This new series follows the release event of Animal Collective's new album Painting With on November 25, 2015, where the new album was streamed throughout the airport.
In late 2018, construction began on a $60 million, five-gate expansion of terminal A for Southwest Airlines. [61] The new expansion began operations in 2021. [62] 2018 also marked a new annual record for passenger traffic at BWI Marshall Airport with over 27.1 million passengers. [63]
In 2021, commuter airline Southern Airways Express ended its hub at BWI and switched its East Coast hub to Washington Dulles International Airport. [64] In addition, the airport's international growth continued with the addition of a twice-weekly flight by Air Senegal to Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, Senegal, via a stop in New York (JFK). However, in January 2023, Air Senegal ceased the New York to Baltimore portion of this route, dropping Baltimore back down to only two year-round transatlantic flights. [65] In 2022, Play Airlines began daily nonstop flights from Baltimore to Reykjavík, Iceland, which was quickly followed a few weeks later by Icelandair also resuming flights from BWI to Reykjavík.
On January 26, 2023, Copa Airlines announced they would start operating direct flights to Panama City, making them the first Central America-based airline to operate out of the airport. Those flights began as scheduled in late June 2023. [66]
BWI Airport has three active runways: [67] [68]
Baltimore/Washington International Airport has five concourses with 78 gates. Of these, 14 are international (all 11 gates in Concourse E are international gates, four of E's gates are arrival-only, and three gates in Concourse D are also international gates). [69]
The airport's cargo concourse covers a 395,000 sq ft (36,700 m2) area. Its facilities include a 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) cargo building in the Midfield Cargo Complex, including a 200,000 square feet warehouse used for Amazon Air, a foreign trade zone, a 17 acres (6.9 ha) air cargo ramp, and ramp parking for 17 aircraft with direct nose-in access for eight freighters.
BWI was ranked one of the "Top 10 Easiest U.S. Airports to Get to" by Aviation.com in 2007. [70]
BWI is located at the southeast terminus of Interstate 195, a spur route providing connections to the Baltimore–Washington Parkway and Interstate 95. The airport has a variety of parking options, ranging from a garage within walking distance to the concourses to remote parking lots that require shuttles to access.
A light rail station, with service to downtown Baltimore and other locations via Baltimore Light RailLink, is located next to Concourse E.
Amtrak and MARC trains regularly serve the BWI Rail Station, located on airport grounds but about a mile from the terminal, with free shuttle bus service connecting the destinations. [71] Trains on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, Acela and MARC's Penn Line stop at the station and proceed to destinations including Union Station in Washington, D.C. and Penn Station in Baltimore. [72]
Local buses that stop at the airport terminal include the Maryland Transportation Authority's 75 route to Patapsco station on Light RailLink and Arundel Mills Mall, as well as route 201, which connects the airport to Shady Grove station on the Washington Metro.
Passenger van service to and from the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland is available through BayRunner Shuttle with services to and from BWI to Kent Island, Easton, Cambridge, Salisbury, Ocean Pines, and Ocean City (for the Eastern Shore) and Grantsville, Frostburg, Cumberland, Hancock, Hagerstown, and Frederick (for Western Maryland). [73] [74] There are also numerous private car, rental car, and cab services, as well as shuttles that go to and from BWI to local hotels; Baltimore and Washington and their suburbs; and Central and Western Maryland.
Some former ground transportation services have been discontinued, including bicycle-sharing system from the Boston-based company Zagster [75] and the Washington Metro's B30 bus, which was an express service to Greenbelt station.
In 1985, the BWI Business District was established as a way to formalize businesses and hotels operating adjacent to the airport. The district comprises two smaller districts located to the north (West Nursery Hotel District) and west (Stoney Run District) of the airport. Numerous traveler resources and employment centers are located within both districts, such as the BWI Rail Station and BWI Rental Car Facility in the Stoney Run District, and the BWI Business District Light Rail Station, the NSA Friendship Annex, and dozens of hotel facilities in the West Nursery District.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security facility is located in the lower level of the main terminal, near the international arrivals area / Concourse E Baggage Claim. This facility also includes a Global Entry Enrollment Center, as well as a TSA PreCheck enrollment facility.
In the early 1990s, BWI Airport opened the Thomas A. Dixon Aircraft Observation Area at Friendship Park. The observation plaza features a playground and a terrace overlooking the southern approach to the airport's 15R-33L runway. [76] From this vantage point, several planes can be viewed simultaneously as they prepare for landing. The southern loop of the 13.3 mile BWI Trail travels through the park, providing cyclist and pedestrian access to the park.
In addition to the Thomas A. Dixon Aircraft Observation Area, which provides spotters with views of aircraft landing on runway 33L, spotters can use one of several parking garages to view arrivals to runway 15R, with some arrivals appearing to be below the spotter.
The Maryland Aviation Administration has its headquarters on the third floor of the terminal building. [77]
Rank | City | Passengers | Carriers |
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1 | Atlanta, Georgia | 937,000 | Delta, Southwest, Spirit, Frontier |
2 | Orlando, Florida | 771,000 | Frontier, Southwest, Spirit |
3 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | 505,000 | Southwest, Spirit |
4 | Boston, Massachusetts | 451,000 | Delta, Southwest |
5 | Denver, Colorado | 445,000 | Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, United |
6 | Charlotte, North Carolina | 377,000 | American, Southwest, Spirit |
7 | Tampa, Florida | 375,000 | Southwest, Spirit |
8 | Miami, Florida | 317,000 | American, Frontier, Southwest |
9 | Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois | 294,000 | American, Southwest, Spirit, United |
10 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 273,000 | Southwest, Spirit |
Rank | City | Passengers | Carriers |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Cancún, Mexico | 338,251 | Frontier, Southwest, Spirit |
2 | Montego Bay, Jamaica | 230,289 | Southwest, Spirit |
3 | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | 106,032 | Southwest |
4 | Oranjestad, Aruba | 65,015 | Southwest |
5 | London–Heathrow, United Kingdom | 62,379 | British Airways |
6 | Reykjavík–Keflavík, Iceland | 58,506 | Icelandair, Play |
7 | Toronto–Pearson, Canada | 30,032 | Air Canada |
8 | Nassau, Bahamas | 26,374 | Southwest |
9 | Frankfurt, Germany | 16,755 | Condor |
10 | Liberia, Costa Rica | 12,799 | Southwest |
Rank | Airline | Passengers | Share |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Southwest Airlines | 17,612,000 | 71.63% |
2 | Spirit Airlines | 1,905,000 | 7.75% |
3 | Delta Air Lines | 1,560,000 | 6.35% |
4 | American Airlines | 998,000 | 4.21% |
5 | United Airlines | 1,043,000 | 4.24% |
6 | Other | 1,509,000 | 6.14% |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on
Phabricator and on
MediaWiki.org. |
Year | Passengers | Year | Passengers |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | 20,698,967 | 2016 | 25,122,651 |
2007 | 21,044,384 | 2017 | 26,369,411 |
2008 | 20,488,881 | 2018 | 27,145,831 |
2009 | 20,953,615 | 2019 | 26,993,896 |
2010 | 21,936,461 | 2020 | 11,204,511 |
2011 | 22,391,785 | 2021 | 18,868,429 |
2012 | 22,679,987 | 2022 | 22,804,744 |
2013 | 22,498,353 | 2023 | 26,200,143 |
2014 | 22,312,676 | 2024 | |
2015 | 23,823,532 | 2025 |
BWI has been a backdrop in six films, Goldfinger (1964), Broadcast News (1987), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Company Business (1991), Home for the Holidays (1995), and Twelve Monkeys (1995).
It was also featured in the reality TV series Airline (2004-2005), an episode of the TV series House of Cards, and the TV documentaries Honor Flight (2007) and Eatin' Crabs Chesapeake Style (2009).
The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Aviation Administration (MDOT MAA) is the owner and operator of BWI Marshall Airport (BWI) and Martin State Airport (KMTN).
Baltimore/washington International Thurgood Marshall Arprt
Only a fraction of Dulles' sheer geographic size, BWI serves fewer international destinations. As former Oriole Adam Jones responded to me via Twitter, "Dulles is waaaaaaay out the way. But Dulles has a lot more international flights. So there's a trade off." Another commenter called BWI "utterly useless" for those "trying to leave North America."
Although it's a civilian airport, it has more missions to and from Ramstein AB than any other location in the U.S.
Southern Airways Express, the hometown airline of Lancaster, PA since 2016, is moving its East Coast hub from Baltimore to Washington Dulles International Airport.
which offers MARC, Amtrak, bus service and a free shuttle to the airport and light rail
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Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport | |||||||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner/Operator | Maryland Aviation Administration ( MDOT MAA) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Serves | |||||||||||||||||||
Location | Anne Arundel County, Maryland, U.S. [2] | ||||||||||||||||||
Opened | June 24, 1950 | ||||||||||||||||||
Operating base for | Southwest Airlines [3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 143 ft / 44 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 39°10′31″N 76°40′06″W / 39.17528°N 76.66833°W | ||||||||||||||||||
Website |
www | ||||||||||||||||||
Maps | |||||||||||||||||||
FAA airport diagram | |||||||||||||||||||
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Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2023) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport ( IATA: BWI, ICAO: KBWI, FAA LID: BWI) is an international airport in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, [2] located 9 mi (14 km) south of downtown Baltimore and 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. [6] [7]
BWI is one of three major airports along with Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that serve the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area. [8]
The airport serves as one of several operating bases for Southwest Airlines. In 2022, it served 11,151,169 passengers, making it the second-busiest airport in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area after Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the 25th-busiest airport in the United States as of 2022. [9] BWI covers 3,160 acres (12.8 km2) of land and contains three runways. [10] [11]
The airport is named after Thurgood Marshall, a Baltimore native who was the first African American to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Planning for a new airport on 3,200 acres (1,300 ha) to serve the Baltimore–Washington area began just before the end of World War II. In 1944, the Baltimore Aviation Commission announced its decision that the best location to build a new airport would be on a 2,100-acre (850 ha) tract of land near Linthicum Heights. [12] [13] The cost of building the airport was estimated at $9 million. [13] The site was chosen because it was a 15-minute drive from downtown Baltimore; close to the Pennsylvania Railroad line, the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad line and the proposed Baltimore–Washington Parkway; and visibility was generally good. [13] An alternate site along Gov. Ritchie Highway at Furnace Branch was rejected by the United States War Department, and another possible site at Lipin's Corner was deemed too far from Baltimore. [13] The State Aviation Commission approved of the Linthicum Heights site in 1946. [14]
Much of the land was purchased from Friendship Methodist Church in 1946, [15] and ground was broken on May 2, 1947. [16] [17] Friendship Methodist Church held its last service on Easter Sunday in 1948. [18] Friendship Methodist Church was razed to make room for the new airport. [18] In addition, several pieces of land were bought, [19] and 170 bodies buried in a cemetery were moved. [20] Baltimore–Fort Meade Road was moved to the west to make way for the airport's construction. [21]
Friendship International Airport was dedicated on June 24, 1950, by President Harry S. Truman. Truman arrived in the then official presidential plane a Douglas DC-6 from nearby Washington National Airport carrying the Governor of Maryland, William Preston Lane Jr., as well as Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. on his first aircraft flight. [22] The cost to construct the airport totaled $15 million. [23] The following month the airlines moved to the new airport from the old Baltimore Municipal Airport (Harbor Field in southeast Baltimore at 39°15′N 76°32′W / 39.25°N 76.53°W). Eastern Airlines flew the first scheduled flight, a DC-3, into the airport at 12:01 am on July 23, 1950. [23] Seven minutes later, the same plane was also the first flight to depart from the airport. [23] 300 people came to watch the first flight arrive and depart. [23]
The Official Airline Guide for April 1957 shows 52 weekday departures: 19 Eastern, 12 Capital, 8 American, 4 National, 3 TWA, 3 United, 2 Delta, and 1 Allegheny. Miami had a couple of nonstop flights, but westward nonstop flights did not reach beyond Ohio; Baltimore's reach expanded when jet service started. The early Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s could not use Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport did not open until 1962, so Baltimore became Washington's jet airport in May–June 1959 when American and TWA began transcontinental 707 flights. [24] By 1963, Friendship Int'l Airport was equipped with a 9,450 foot (2,880 m) runway, which could handle any commercial jet aircraft at that time. [25]
The Maryland Department of Transportation purchased Friendship International Airport from the City of Baltimore for $36 million in 1972. [26] Under MDOT, the Maryland State Aviation Administration took over airfield operations and grew from three employees to more than 200. Plans to upgrade, improve, and modernize all Maryland airport facilities were announced almost immediately by the Secretary of Transportation, Harry Hughes.
To attract passengers from the Washington metropolitan area, particularly Montgomery and Prince George's counties, [27] the airport was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Airport, effective November 16, 1973. [28] Its IATA code, originally BAL, didn't reflect its new name for seven years until the International Air Transport Association assigned BWI to the airport on April 20, 1980, with the change becoming official six months later on October 26. The BWI code had previously been used by an airport in Bewani, Papua New Guinea. [29]
The first phase of the airport's modernization was completed in 1974 at a cost of $30 million. Upgrades included improved instrument landing capabilities and runway systems, and construction of three new air cargo terminals, expanding the airport's freight capacity to 2.53 acres (1.02 ha). [28]
The terminal renovation program was complete in 1979, the most dramatic work of the airport's modernization, which was designed by DMJM along with Peterson & Brickbauer. [30] The BWI terminal more than doubled in size to 14.58 acres (5.90 ha); the number of gate positions increased from 20 to 27. The total cost was $70 million. To continue the work, the BWI Development Council was established to support initiatives for airport development. [28]
The BWI Rail Station opened in 1980, providing a connection for passengers on the Northeast Corridor through Amtrak. BWI was the first airport in the U.S. with a dedicated intercity rail station. [31] In particular, the station provided rail transit access to Washington, D.C., something that Dulles did not achieve until late 2022. In 1997 a new international terminal (Concourse E), designed by STV Group and William Nicholas Bodouva & Associates, [32] was added, [33] though Dulles continues to hold the lion's share of the region's international flights, and BWI has not attracted many long-haul international carriers. [34] The first transatlantic nonstops were on World Airways about 1981; British Airways arrived at BWI a few years later. Aer Lingus, [35] Air Jamaica, [36] Air Aruba, [37] Air Greenland, El Al, Icelandair, KLM, Air Canada, Ladeco, and Mexicana previously flew to BWI. Military flights, operated by the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command, continue to have a significant presence at BWI. [38] [39]
In the first half of the 1990s runway 15L/33R was extended 1,800 feet (550 m) from 3,199 ft (975 m) to its current length of 5,000 ft (1,500 m), allowing it to be used by small passenger jets like the Boeing 737. [40]
Beginning in the 1980s and for much of the 1990s BWI was a hub for Piedmont Airlines and successor US Airways, but that airline's financial problems in the wake of the dot-com bust, the September 11 attacks, and low fare competition forced it to cut back. The airport has been a haven for low-cost flights in the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan Area since Southwest Airlines' arrival in September 1993 [41] and subsequent expansion in the early 2000s. Southwest is the airport's largest carrier, accounting for 56.12% of passengers carried in 2011. [42] Southwest Airlines currently serves on average 245 daily departures to the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Ghana Airways began service to Accra in July 2000. [43] The airline operated the flight with McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and sought to serve the many people of West African origin residing in the region. [44] [45] [46] In July 2004, the American government prohibited Ghana Airways from flying to the country. According to officials, the company was operating on an expired license and had disobeyed orders to stop flying an unsafe plane. [45] [47] To accommodate Southwest's extensive presence at the airport, in 2005 Concourses A and B were expanded, renovated, and integrated with one another to house all of that airline's operations there for their major operating base. This new facility, designed by URS Corporation, opened on May 22, 2005. On October 1 of that year, the airport was renamed again, becoming "Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport", to honor former US Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, who grew up in Baltimore. [48] [49]
North American Airlines introduced a link to Accra via Banjul in June 2006, marking the return of direct flights between Baltimore and Africa. [50] [51] The carrier employed Boeing 767s on the route. [52] Afterward, it made the Accra flight nonstop and added a route to Lagos. North American ended all scheduled service in May 2008. [50] [53] In 2008, Health magazine named BWI the second healthiest airport in the United States. [54] In 2009 the airport had a six percent increase in air travelers due to the proliferation of discount flights. [55] In a 2009 survey of airport service quality by Airports Council International, BWI was the world's top ranking airport in the 15-to-25-million-passenger category. [56] BWI also ranked seventh, in medium-sized airports, based on customer satisfaction conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. [57]
On August 5, 2014, the airport's little-used runway 04-22 was permanently closed. [58] It was 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) long and used primarily when the main runways needed to be closed for repairs. The last operation on the runway was a Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago Midway that arrived at 4:18 AM. [59]
In 2015, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced they would start flights from the airport to Guadeloupe and Martinique. In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO Bjorn Kjos said "Baltimore is high on the list for long-haul destinations", hinting at further expansion into Europe. In mid-2018, however, the airline ceased all flights out of Baltimore due to heavy financial losses.
In early 2016, a partnership between the airport and Towson University's WTMD Radio Station announced a new concert series that will take place at the terminal's baggage claim on the lower level. [60] The local bands of Wye Oak, Arboretum, and Super City. This new series follows the release event of Animal Collective's new album Painting With on November 25, 2015, where the new album was streamed throughout the airport.
In late 2018, construction began on a $60 million, five-gate expansion of terminal A for Southwest Airlines. [61] The new expansion began operations in 2021. [62] 2018 also marked a new annual record for passenger traffic at BWI Marshall Airport with over 27.1 million passengers. [63]
In 2021, commuter airline Southern Airways Express ended its hub at BWI and switched its East Coast hub to Washington Dulles International Airport. [64] In addition, the airport's international growth continued with the addition of a twice-weekly flight by Air Senegal to Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, Senegal, via a stop in New York (JFK). However, in January 2023, Air Senegal ceased the New York to Baltimore portion of this route, dropping Baltimore back down to only two year-round transatlantic flights. [65] In 2022, Play Airlines began daily nonstop flights from Baltimore to Reykjavík, Iceland, which was quickly followed a few weeks later by Icelandair also resuming flights from BWI to Reykjavík.
On January 26, 2023, Copa Airlines announced they would start operating direct flights to Panama City, making them the first Central America-based airline to operate out of the airport. Those flights began as scheduled in late June 2023. [66]
BWI Airport has three active runways: [67] [68]
Baltimore/Washington International Airport has five concourses with 78 gates. Of these, 14 are international (all 11 gates in Concourse E are international gates, four of E's gates are arrival-only, and three gates in Concourse D are also international gates). [69]
The airport's cargo concourse covers a 395,000 sq ft (36,700 m2) area. Its facilities include a 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) cargo building in the Midfield Cargo Complex, including a 200,000 square feet warehouse used for Amazon Air, a foreign trade zone, a 17 acres (6.9 ha) air cargo ramp, and ramp parking for 17 aircraft with direct nose-in access for eight freighters.
BWI was ranked one of the "Top 10 Easiest U.S. Airports to Get to" by Aviation.com in 2007. [70]
BWI is located at the southeast terminus of Interstate 195, a spur route providing connections to the Baltimore–Washington Parkway and Interstate 95. The airport has a variety of parking options, ranging from a garage within walking distance to the concourses to remote parking lots that require shuttles to access.
A light rail station, with service to downtown Baltimore and other locations via Baltimore Light RailLink, is located next to Concourse E.
Amtrak and MARC trains regularly serve the BWI Rail Station, located on airport grounds but about a mile from the terminal, with free shuttle bus service connecting the destinations. [71] Trains on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, Acela and MARC's Penn Line stop at the station and proceed to destinations including Union Station in Washington, D.C. and Penn Station in Baltimore. [72]
Local buses that stop at the airport terminal include the Maryland Transportation Authority's 75 route to Patapsco station on Light RailLink and Arundel Mills Mall, as well as route 201, which connects the airport to Shady Grove station on the Washington Metro.
Passenger van service to and from the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland is available through BayRunner Shuttle with services to and from BWI to Kent Island, Easton, Cambridge, Salisbury, Ocean Pines, and Ocean City (for the Eastern Shore) and Grantsville, Frostburg, Cumberland, Hancock, Hagerstown, and Frederick (for Western Maryland). [73] [74] There are also numerous private car, rental car, and cab services, as well as shuttles that go to and from BWI to local hotels; Baltimore and Washington and their suburbs; and Central and Western Maryland.
Some former ground transportation services have been discontinued, including bicycle-sharing system from the Boston-based company Zagster [75] and the Washington Metro's B30 bus, which was an express service to Greenbelt station.
In 1985, the BWI Business District was established as a way to formalize businesses and hotels operating adjacent to the airport. The district comprises two smaller districts located to the north (West Nursery Hotel District) and west (Stoney Run District) of the airport. Numerous traveler resources and employment centers are located within both districts, such as the BWI Rail Station and BWI Rental Car Facility in the Stoney Run District, and the BWI Business District Light Rail Station, the NSA Friendship Annex, and dozens of hotel facilities in the West Nursery District.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security facility is located in the lower level of the main terminal, near the international arrivals area / Concourse E Baggage Claim. This facility also includes a Global Entry Enrollment Center, as well as a TSA PreCheck enrollment facility.
In the early 1990s, BWI Airport opened the Thomas A. Dixon Aircraft Observation Area at Friendship Park. The observation plaza features a playground and a terrace overlooking the southern approach to the airport's 15R-33L runway. [76] From this vantage point, several planes can be viewed simultaneously as they prepare for landing. The southern loop of the 13.3 mile BWI Trail travels through the park, providing cyclist and pedestrian access to the park.
In addition to the Thomas A. Dixon Aircraft Observation Area, which provides spotters with views of aircraft landing on runway 33L, spotters can use one of several parking garages to view arrivals to runway 15R, with some arrivals appearing to be below the spotter.
The Maryland Aviation Administration has its headquarters on the third floor of the terminal building. [77]
Rank | City | Passengers | Carriers |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Atlanta, Georgia | 937,000 | Delta, Southwest, Spirit, Frontier |
2 | Orlando, Florida | 771,000 | Frontier, Southwest, Spirit |
3 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | 505,000 | Southwest, Spirit |
4 | Boston, Massachusetts | 451,000 | Delta, Southwest |
5 | Denver, Colorado | 445,000 | Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, United |
6 | Charlotte, North Carolina | 377,000 | American, Southwest, Spirit |
7 | Tampa, Florida | 375,000 | Southwest, Spirit |
8 | Miami, Florida | 317,000 | American, Frontier, Southwest |
9 | Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois | 294,000 | American, Southwest, Spirit, United |
10 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 273,000 | Southwest, Spirit |
Rank | City | Passengers | Carriers |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Cancún, Mexico | 338,251 | Frontier, Southwest, Spirit |
2 | Montego Bay, Jamaica | 230,289 | Southwest, Spirit |
3 | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic | 106,032 | Southwest |
4 | Oranjestad, Aruba | 65,015 | Southwest |
5 | London–Heathrow, United Kingdom | 62,379 | British Airways |
6 | Reykjavík–Keflavík, Iceland | 58,506 | Icelandair, Play |
7 | Toronto–Pearson, Canada | 30,032 | Air Canada |
8 | Nassau, Bahamas | 26,374 | Southwest |
9 | Frankfurt, Germany | 16,755 | Condor |
10 | Liberia, Costa Rica | 12,799 | Southwest |
Rank | Airline | Passengers | Share |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Southwest Airlines | 17,612,000 | 71.63% |
2 | Spirit Airlines | 1,905,000 | 7.75% |
3 | Delta Air Lines | 1,560,000 | 6.35% |
4 | American Airlines | 998,000 | 4.21% |
5 | United Airlines | 1,043,000 | 4.24% |
6 | Other | 1,509,000 | 6.14% |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on
Phabricator and on
MediaWiki.org. |
Year | Passengers | Year | Passengers |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | 20,698,967 | 2016 | 25,122,651 |
2007 | 21,044,384 | 2017 | 26,369,411 |
2008 | 20,488,881 | 2018 | 27,145,831 |
2009 | 20,953,615 | 2019 | 26,993,896 |
2010 | 21,936,461 | 2020 | 11,204,511 |
2011 | 22,391,785 | 2021 | 18,868,429 |
2012 | 22,679,987 | 2022 | 22,804,744 |
2013 | 22,498,353 | 2023 | 26,200,143 |
2014 | 22,312,676 | 2024 | |
2015 | 23,823,532 | 2025 |
BWI has been a backdrop in six films, Goldfinger (1964), Broadcast News (1987), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Company Business (1991), Home for the Holidays (1995), and Twelve Monkeys (1995).
It was also featured in the reality TV series Airline (2004-2005), an episode of the TV series House of Cards, and the TV documentaries Honor Flight (2007) and Eatin' Crabs Chesapeake Style (2009).
The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Aviation Administration (MDOT MAA) is the owner and operator of BWI Marshall Airport (BWI) and Martin State Airport (KMTN).
Baltimore/washington International Thurgood Marshall Arprt
Only a fraction of Dulles' sheer geographic size, BWI serves fewer international destinations. As former Oriole Adam Jones responded to me via Twitter, "Dulles is waaaaaaay out the way. But Dulles has a lot more international flights. So there's a trade off." Another commenter called BWI "utterly useless" for those "trying to leave North America."
Although it's a civilian airport, it has more missions to and from Ramstein AB than any other location in the U.S.
Southern Airways Express, the hometown airline of Lancaster, PA since 2016, is moving its East Coast hub from Baltimore to Washington Dulles International Airport.
which offers MARC, Amtrak, bus service and a free shuttle to the airport and light rail
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