[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 30, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OPENING OF THE NEW NATIONAL AIRPORT

 Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, over the past 2 weeks, and 
culminating with ceremonies this past Sunday, the Metropolitan 
Washington Airports Authority opened the new terminal at National 
Airport.
  This $450 million state of the art facility is just one element of a 
$2 billion capital development plan at both Washington National and 
Dulles International Airports, made possible by the creation of the 
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority only 10 short years ago.
  To understand the significance of this achievement, one only needs to 
recall what it was like to use either Washington National or Dulles 
International during the late 1970's and early 1980's.
  Both airports were owned by the Federal Aviation Administration, and 
Congress was absolutely unwilling to appropriate more than the bare 
essential amount necessary to operate either facility.
  National Airport was in a grave state of disrepair, and Dulles was 
called the great white elephant.
  Looking upon these airports as integral parts of the areas economy 
was unfathomable, and the notion of customer service was even more 
unimaginable.
  Then, thinking in the region began to change.
  Encouraged by the desire of the Reagan administration to re-examine 
the proper role of Federal Government, area business leaders and 
members of the Virginia congressional delegation started asking the 
question: Why not divest the Federal government of these two airports, 
and let them be run like a business?
  Fortunately, there was a Secretary of Transportation whose response 
to the question was: Why not indeed!
  Not about to be discouraged by enormity or ambitious nature of the 
task, that Secretary of Transportation, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, 
enlisted the assistance of a very able and influential statesman, 
former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton, who worked tirelessly to help 
mold both a plan, and the consensus to transfer ownership of the two 
airports to a non-Federal authority.
  This authority was authorized under an interstate compact to operate 
the airports and to raise the money necessary to renew National 
Airport, and to make Dulles the economic dynamo its creators once 
envisioned.
  Following a very tortuous and uncertain course through the 
legislative process, a bill was finally placed on President Reagan's 
desk for signature, and in 1987, the Metropolitan Washington Airports 
Authority took control of the two airports.
  Under the stewardship of James A. Wilding, and the leadership of a 
ten person board comprised of appointees from Virginia and Maryland and 
the District of Columbia, the Airports Authority designed a capital 
development plan which relied on the sales of bonds financed by future 
revenues.
  This capital development plan became the catalyst enabling the 
Metropolitan region to achieve its dream.
  Today, Dulles International Airport is a major force in the growing 
hightech and biotech economy of the region, and with the opening of the 
new National terminal last Sunday, the region now has a world-class 
dining, shopping, and transportation facility to welcome the more than 
15 million passengers who come to the Nation's capital from cities 
within a 1,250 mile perimeter of the airport.
  In fact, it is this perimeter, combined with a limitation on the 
number of flights that can arrive and depart from National Airport each 
hour, and a curfew on stage two aircraft after 10 P.M., that maintains 
the political and economic balance enabling National Airport to serve 
short-haul passengers, while Dulles International serves long-haul 
passengers from across the United States and around the world.
  Without these tools, the community would be in a literal uproar over 
the noise and volume of air traffic at Washington National Airport, and 
Dulles would still be the white elephant it was in the 1970's and early 
1980's.
  Needless to say, the region's economy would be nothing like it is 
today had the vision of Secretary Dole, area business leaders and 
Virginia's Congressional delegation not been realized.
  So, Mr. President, it is with gratitude that I salute all the 
thousands of people who helped make this dream come true.
  Especially I thank the present and former members of the Metropolitan 
Washington Airports Authority board of directors including Linwood 
Holton, Ron Linton, and Robert Tardio; the staff and management of the 
Airports Authority including James A. Wilding, general manager, August 
Melton, manager of Washington National Airport, and Keith Merlin, 
manager of Dulles International Airport; and architect Cesar Pelli and 
all the construction personnel who turned Mr. Pelli's designs into a 
living, working masterpieces.
  Congratulations to all. Job well done.

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