Reagan National Airport’s oldest passenger terminal is about to look nothing like it does today. Newly released planning documents detail a sweeping overhaul of Terminal 1 that will tear down the airport’s distinctive circular Banjo gates while keeping the historic 1941 facade standing out front, with construction expected to start next year and wrap up by December 2032.
The plans, first detailed in documents obtained by WJLA, show that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority intends to completely demolish gates A1 through A9 — the ring of gates known as the Banjo that make up the entirety of Terminal 1 — and replace them with a new facility built next to the current structure. According to the station’s report, the project will radically change nearly everything behind the terminal’s historic facade even as that facade itself is preserved. Terminal 1 opened in 1941 as the airport’s only terminal and was expanded in 1948, making it the oldest passenger structure still standing at Reagan National.
What Gets Demolished, and What Stays
The Banjo itself is younger than the terminal it sits inside. Designed by Giuliani Associates for Northwest Orient and TWA, the circular concourse opened on June 1, 1970, built to accommodate the expansion of commercial jet service at National Airport after jet authorization in 1966, according to historic preservation records cited by Greater Greater Washington. The original 1941 terminal and South Hangar Line, by contrast, carry federal protection: the Virginia Department of Historic Resources listed the building on the National Register of Historic Places in September 1997 as a landmark example of mid-century stripped classicism.
Environmental project documents published by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in August 2026 lay out the full scope of the work: demolishing the Banjo and parts of the 1968 American Airlines Terminal, constructing replacement gates and a new passenger processing building, and renovating the 1948 southern addition and the 1956 baggage room. The Virginia DEQ issued a public notice on August 3, 2026, opening a public comment window on MWAA’s application for FAA authorization that runs through August 13, 2026.
More Space, but a Longer Walk
Per WJLA’s reporting, the Terminal 1 modernization is designed to provide more room for ticketing areas, passenger circulation, baggage conveyance, terminal hold rooms, concessions, security screening, and airline and airport support areas. The project will not add additional gates beyond the ones it replaces, and the road outside Terminal 1 will be reconfigured in an effort to improve traffic flow. A statue of Ronald Reagan currently sits in front of the terminal.
One tradeoff has drawn attention from industry observers: the rebuild eliminates Terminal 1’s standalone security checkpoint. Passengers would instead check in near Terminal 2 and pass through central security before walking as far as half a mile south to reach the new gates, according to View from the Wing. Southwest Airlines is the primary tenant operating out of Terminal 1 today and will be the main carrier using the new replacement concourse, alongside Air Canada and Frontier Airlines, per reporting from The Points Guy.
Cost Estimates and an Unfinished Contract
MWAA has not put an official price tag on the project. An MWAA spokesperson told WJLA there is no cost estimate yet for the Terminal 1 work, and the construction schedule remains subject to change because no contractor has been selected. Even so, financial projections cited in August 2026 aviation reporting estimate the total redevelopment could run between $835 million and $933 million in 2025 dollars, split between a roughly $535 million replacement concourse and a $300 million passenger headhouse.
The design work is already underway. MWAA board records from September 2025 show the authority awarded a contract worth up to $108 million over eight years to architectural firm PGAL, Inc. to lead planning and design services for the Terminal 1 and South Area Redevelopment Program, according to ARLnow.
Part of a Larger Airport Overhaul
Terminal 1’s rebuild is funded under a broader financial framework. The MWAA Board of Directors approved a 15-year Airport Use and Lease Agreement in 2024, taking effect in 2025, that allocates $2.39 billion for capital construction at Reagan National, including money earmarked for renewing Terminal 1’s main concourse, as reported by WUSA9.
The project follows Project Journey, a $1 billion capital program completed in 2021 that added the 14-gate Concourse E — home to the E gates, located north of Terminal 2 — along with two centralized security checkpoints meant to modernize flow for more than 23 million annual passengers, according to MWAA. Terminal 2 itself opened in 1997. Together, the projects represent a decade-long push by the airports authority to replace Reagan National’s aging, disconnected terminal facilities with a more unified airport layout.
