Airplane Landing in Washington, D.C, Washington Dulles International Airport

Washington Dulles International Airport (/ˈdʌlɪs/ DUL-iss; IATA: IAD, ICAO: KIAD, FAA LID: IAD) is an international airport in Loudoun County and Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, United States,[4] 26 miles (42 km) west of downtown Washington, D.C.[5]

The airport, which opened in 1962, is named after John Foster Dulles, an influential United States Secretary of State during the Cold War who briefly represented New York in the United States Senate.[6][7] The airport's main terminal is a well-known landmark designed by Eero Saarinen, who also designed the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Dulles occupies 13,000 acres (20.3 sq mi; 52.6 km2),[2][8] straddling the Loudoun–Fairfax line.[9] IAD ranks fifth in the US in terms of land area, after Denver International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Southwest Florida International Airport, and Orlando International Airport. Most of the airport is in the unincorporated community of Dulles in Loudoun County, with a small portion in the unincorporated community of Chantilly in Fairfax County.

Along with Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI), Dulles is one of three major airports serving the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area. As of 2021, it is the second-busiest airport in the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area behind Reagan National Airport and the 28th-busiest airport in the United States.[10] Dulles has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the Mid-Atlantic outside the New York
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. It was named for George Washington, the first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.

The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791,