More airlines means more destinations to choose from at RDU airport this summer

Weaving through the crowds at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, it’s hard to believe how much has changed in four years.

People stopped flying in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Airlines canceled flights and parked their planes, and airport terminals and parking decks fell silent. Fewer than 40,000 passengers flew through RDU that April, about the same as a typical day in 2019.

Air travel has come roaring back. RDU handled a record 14.5 million passengers last year and is on pace to shatter that record again this year.

Airlines are responding to that demand — and are helping to spur it along — by offering more flights to more places than ever from RDU. Triangle travelers can now fly nonstop to nearly 70 destinations, from Akron to White Plains and such disparate places as the Bahamas, Paris and Reykjavik and soon to Frankfurt, Mexico City and Panama.

RDU has aggressively recruited new airlines, touting the Triangle’s growing, affluent population and offering financial incentives in some cases. Nine carriers have started doing business in the Triangle since 2021, bringing the total to 18. The number of nonstops to international destinations has grown to 10.

Two airlines, American and Delta, still dominate the market. But RDU officials say having more airlines provides travelers with more choices and creates competition that can help keep fares down.

Here, in order of market share through the first four months of this year, are the airlines doing business at RDU and where they fly. Airlines operate out of Terminal 2, except where noted.

▪ American Airlines has edged out Delta as RDU’s busiest airline, carrying nearly 30% of passengers in and out of the Triangle. The airline flies nonstop to about 16 destinations, including its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington. It also has two international flights, to Cancun and London.

▪ Delta Air Lines serves more than 27% of passengers in an out of RDU, with nonstop flights to 20 places. They include its hubs in Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and New York, and one international flight, to Cancun.

▪ Southwest Airlines is RDU’s third-busiest airline, operating out of Terminal 1 and handling about 15.4% of the airport’s passengers. It flies to about 15 destinations, including hubs in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Orlando and Phoenix.

▪ United Airlines handles a little less than 12% of passengers at RDU, with nonstop flights to its hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark, San Francisco and Washington.

▪ Frontier Airlines offers a mix of year-round and seasonal flights to about 20 destinations, ranging from Chicago, Denver and New York to smaller airports in places such as Trenton, New Jersey, and Syracuse. The carrier has handled more than 5.5% of passengers so far this year.

▪ JetBlue has carried about 4.25% of RDU passengers, with nonstops to Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, New York, Orlando and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airline also flies to Cancun.

▪ Breeze Airways is one of two low-cost start-up airlines to make its debut at RDU since the pandemic and has handled about 1.6% of passengers so far this year. The carrier flies nonstop to 18 destinations, ranging from Los Angeles, New Orleans and San Diego to small markets such as Akron and Burlington, Vermont. Breeze moved to Terminal 1 this spring.

▪ Avelo Airlines, the other low-cost start-up at RDU, also moved to Terminal 1, where it flies to about a half dozen cities, mostly in the Northeast this time of year. It has handled about 1.3% of passengers this year.

Niche airlines to key destinations

The following airlines all served fewer than 1% of RDU passengers through the first four months of the year. They’re niche players but help expand the options for Triangle travelers.

▪ Spirit Airlines has pared back its flights from RDU and now operates only one regular nonstop, to Ft. Lauderdale, from Terminal 1.

▪ Alaska Airlines has one or two flights a day to its hub in Seattle. It recently moved to Terminal 1.

▪ Air Canada offers year-round flights to Toronto and nonstops to Montreal during warmer months.

▪ Air France took over the flight to Paris from Delta, which started the route in 2016. The Paris flight is daily during the summer months.

▪ Icelandair flies daily between RDU and its hub outside Reykjavik, where travelers can catch connecting flights to more than two dozen cities in Europe.

▪ Bahamasair flies two days a week between RDU and Freeport, but only during cooler months. The flights will be suspended for the season at the end of May.

▪ Sun Country flies several days a week between RDU and its hub in Minneapolis-St. Paul from Terminal 1.

Three carriers debut at RDU soon

Three airlines will make their inaugural flights to international destinations from RDU this summer, extending the airport’s reach in ways that seemed inconceivable a few years ago.

▪ Lufthansa will fly five days a week between RDU and Frankfurt, Germany, starting June 6. The General Assembly approved $3 million in incentives to help RDU land the nonstop flight to Lufthansa’s hub, where travelers can catch connecting flights to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.

▪ Copa Airlines will begin flying four days a week between RDU and Panama City, Panama, starting June 21. From its hub at Tocumen International Airport, Copa serves 85 cities throughout the Americas.

▪ Aeromexico is scheduled to begin daily nonstop flights between RDU and Mexico City on July 1. The service is the result of a partnership between the airline and Delta that depends on immunity from anti-trust legislation granted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The USDOT has threatened to rescind that immunity because of a dispute with the Mexican government but has not made a final decision.

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