The planning to build a new airport on to serve the Baltimore/Washington area began just after World War II. Construction began in 1947. The airport was first named Friendship International Airport after the Friendship Methodist Church which was next to the land used to build the airport until 1948. The airport was opened on June 24, 1950, by President Harry Truman. In April 1957, the airport had 52 weekday departures. Eastern, Capital, American, National, TWA, United, 2 Delta and Allegheny flew through BWI at that time. The early Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s could not use Washington National, and Dulles was not built until 1962, so Baltimore became Washington's jet airport. It dealt with flights across the continent.