I doubt that Dulles is in trouble. Being the nations capitol makes it make more recession proof than most areas due to Uncle Sam. Depending on your catchment area, its home to more than 6M affluent people. Aside from BWI and SWA (99% domestic travel) what other choice do peeps in DC/MD/VA have? For comparison, look at what's happening to Houston now that oil has fallen off a cliff.

UA recently renegotiated its lease with MWAA and managed to significantly reduce its operating costs there. We're a big enough airline to operate in both DC and NY. I can't imagine us taking DC pax to EWR for European and other international connections. We already screwed that up in MIA. If we were to pull out of Dulles, I'd bet money that either DAL or AA would slide right in. In my view, that alone is what will cement its viability.

From Wiki.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washin...ropolitan_area
"The Washington metropolitan area is the most educated and, by some measures, the most affluent metropolitan area in the United States [2] As of the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the population of the Washington metropolitan area was estimated to be 6,033,737, making it the largest metropolitan area in the Census' Southeast region and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country.

And...

"Dulles has significant capacity for future growth. With minor expansion, the current facilities could accommodate 45 million annual passengers (22.5 million enplanements). With all future facilities in the master plan constructed, the airport could accommodate 70 million annual passengers (35 million enplanements) operating out of 250 airline gates. The current four-runway configuration has a capacity of up to 600,000 aircraft operations per year. With a future fifth runway constructed, the airfield capacity could increase to 1 million aircraft operations per year."

About Dulles International | Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority