Raleigh–Durham International Airport

Early view of Raleigh–Durham Airport

The region's first airport opened in 1929 as Raleigh's Municipal Airport, south of town at 35.735°N 78.656°W / 35.735; -78.656. It was quickly outgrown, and in 1939 the North Carolina General Assembly chartered the Raleigh–Durham Aeronautical Authority to build and operate a larger airport between Raleigh and Durham. This was promoted by Eastern Air Lines, led by then chairman Eddie Rickenbacker who wanted to make RDU a stop on the airline's New York–Miami route.

The new Raleigh–Durham Airport opened on May 1, 1943 with flights by Eastern Airlines. The passenger terminal was built from materials remaining after the construction of four barracks for the Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command airfield.[7] The three runways the airport had in 1951 are still visible on the southeast side of the airport: 4500-ft runway 5, 4500-ft runway 18 and 4490-ft runway 14.

After World War II Capital Airlines joined Eastern at RDU; Piedmont Airlines arrived in 1948. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 36 departures a day: twenty Eastern, eight Capital and eight Piedmont. Nonstop flights did not reach beyond Washington, Atlanta, or the Appalachians (but Eastern started a Super Constellation nonstop to Newark in 1958). The next airline (aside from United's takeover of Capital in 1961) was Delta Air Lines in 1970. In April 1969 nonstops didn't reach beyond New York or Atlanta, and Chicago was the only nonstop west of the Appalachians. RDU's first scheduled jets were Eastern 727s in 1965.

In the 1970s, the last decade before airline deregulation, Piedmont connected RDU to Charlotte, Greensboro, New Bern, Norfolk, Richmond, Rocky Mount, Washington, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.[8] United flew to Asheville, Charlotte, Huntsville and Newark,[9] while Eastern flew to Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond and Washington,[10] and Delta flew to Chicago and Greensboro.[11]

After deregulation Allegheny Airlines arrived in 1979 and by 1985 Trans World Airlines, American Airlines, Ozark, People Express, New York Air and Pan Am had all put in appearances.

American built a terminal at RDU between 1985 and 1987 to house a new hub, and flew to 38 cities when the hub started in June 1987.[12] The December 1987 timetable shows AA nonstops to 36 airports and Eagle prop nonstops to 18 more. American later flew to London and Paris.[13] The RDU hub operated at a loss even during its heyday in the early 1990s, like the hub AA then had at Nashville.[14] American's December 1992 timetable, around the time of the hub's peak, showed 211 daily departures to 64 destinations, almost all in the eastern United States (the westernmost destinations being American's hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago–O'Hare).[15]

The hub faced intense competition from Delta and Eastern in Atlanta and from USAir in Charlotte, as well as the short-lived Continental hub in Greensboro that opened in 1993.[16] American began to consider closing the hub in late 1993; operations were reduced until June 1995 when American closed the hub.[15][16] Nonetheless, it retained the daily nonstop flight to London, which continues to operate to this day.[17][18]

Midway Airlines replaced AA as the airport's hub carrier from 1995 until 2003.[19] In 1995, Midway had flights to Boston, Hartford, Long Island, Newark, Newburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Washington in the Northeast, and to Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach in Florida.[20] American subleased its gates at RDU to Midway in order to repay $113 million in American-guaranteed bonds which had been used to construct the hub facilities.[21] Midway suspended service for some time after the September 11, 2001 attacks, ceased operations in 2002 and filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

American Airlines Boeing 777-200 from London–Gatwick landing at RDU in 2005

RDU's post-hub years have brought the addition of new carriers and destinations; notably discount carriers such as Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air. Because of the economic downturn and high fuel prices in 2008, American ended most point to point flights it operated out of the airport. Several mainline flights were also dropped and service to other cities was reduced or downgraded. Other airlines also cut flights and destinations, including United Airlines and US Airways.

By 2010, RDU's traffic began to recover. In the first few months of the year passenger numbers stabilized at RDU, ending the decrease the airport experienced in 2008 and 2009. In the first four months of 2010, 2.7 million passengers traveled through RDU.[22] Growth was flat, compared to the same period a year before, but these signs were positive, indicating that the decline was over. Airlines at RDU began to add new service to the schedule, with both legacy and low cost carriers significantly increasing service since the early 2010s.

Inaugural Delta flight from Raleigh–Durham to Paris

Recently, Delta Air Lines has been building up operations and has declared RDU to be a focus city.[23] Delta is now the largest carrier at RDU and operates 80 flights, including a transatlantic flight to Paris, which began in May 2016.[24]

Raleigh–Durham has finished most of its construction with the completion of the Terminal 1 renovation, leading the airport to have the proper infrastructure until 2040. Nevertheless, the airport still owns nearly 2000 acres of unused land that it wants to develop. Some ideas for developing that land include an airport hotel, quarry, or warehouse facilities.[25] For air service, the airport is looking at several domestic destinations including Portland and San Diego for new non-stop air service.[26] With the addition of the Paris flight, Raleigh is now looking into a transpacific flight to China, where companies such as Lenovo (which has headquarters in both Beijing and Morrisville) have frequent business flights.[27]

The RDU Airport Authority released its Vision 2040 Master Plan in 2017, detailing the improvements which will be made by 2040. The most major projects are the construction of a consolidated rental car facility and an on-site hotel, expansion of parking lots, expansion of both terminals to add gates, improvements to the taxiway layout, and the complete rebuilding of the runways. Runway 5R/23L will be lengthened to 9,000 feet, and runway 5L/23R will be rebuilt to 11,500 feet just northwest of its current position. The existing runway 5L/23R will become a taxiway.[28]

RDU contains two terminals and three concourses. The two terminals do not have an airside connection, passengers moving between the terminals may ride a shuttle bus or take the moving walkway through the covered parking decks between the terminals.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 occupies the site of the airport's original terminal, which opened in 1955. Expanded in 1972 and again in 1976, the building was named Terminal B in 1982 when the then-new Terminal A opened.[29] The two terminals were connected by a landside interior walkway. Terminal B was closed in 1989. In 1994, Terminal B lost its identity when it was renovated into an extension of Terminal A; an airside walkway was added to link all gates. In 2001 the south end of Terminal A was extended to include five temporary gates; these gates were closed in 2009, as the airlines using them moved to other gates. Terminal A was renamed Terminal 1 on October 26, 2008 to bring RDU in line with terminal naming conventions and to end years of confusion.

After years of proposals, the 1981 part of Terminal 1 was closed in 2012 for a complete renovation.[30] During this time, Southwest and AirTran Airways continued to operate out of the pre-1981 part of Terminal 1. The building reopened on April 13, 2014 with nine gates; Southwest and AirTran Airways occupied the rebuilt terminal.[31] The terminal achieved LEED certification in December 2014.[32] In 2016, the pre-1981 parts of Terminal 1 and the 2001 south-end extension were demolished due to expenses and lack of practical use of these ends of the building.[33]

As of April 2018 Southwest is the only airline at Terminal 1 (except for Cancun arrivals, due to the lack of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Terminal 1). All other airlines operate out of Terminal 2.[34] Southwest currently uses Gates A5-A9. On April 1, 2020, the airport planned to activate Gates A1-A4, which would see Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines moving to Terminal 1 due to lack of room for immediate expansion in Terminal 2, however, this was postponed due to a sharp drop in airport traffic amid the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic. Frontier Airlines will eventually move to Terminal 1 when the RDU Airport Authority is satisfied that there will be enough ticketing space for all three new tenants.[35]

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 occupies the site of the former Terminal C, built between 1985 and 1987 for the American Airlines hub. In planning the terminal, American assumed that only around 20% of passengers would originate or terminate their trips in Raleigh–Durham; rather, Terminal C was optimized for the exchange of passengers between connecting flights, with a relatively small check-in and baggage claim area. In reality, connecting passengers only accounted for around two-thirds of the terminal's passengers. After the American and Midway hubs closed, the airport faced a decision about the future of Terminal C and how to eliminate the inconveniences it imposed on local passengers.[36]

In December 2003 the Airport Authority announced plans to expand and renovate the 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m²) building, transforming it into a new 900,000 sq ft (84,000 m²) facility. In January 2006, the airport instead decided to replace the building entirely.

Terminal 2 was designed by Fentress Architects under a philosophy of contextual regionalism, related to Critical regionalism. The terminal, invoking the flowing hills and culture of North Carolina's Piedmont region,[37] consisted of two phases of construction. The first, larger Phase 1, which consisted of the construction of Concourse C, a ticketing level, and a baggage claim level, opened on October 26, 2008 while Phase 2, which consisted of the construction of Concourse D, opened on January 23, 2011 in time for the 2011 NHL All Star Game.[22] Terminal 2 has 36 gates, 4 of which are international gates that can accommodate aircraft up to the Boeing 747. The federal inspection area has 16 stations. As of September 2019, Terminal 2 is used by Alaska, Allegiant, Air Canada Express, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit, and United. The terminal contains three airport lounges - an Admirals Club operated by American, a Delta Sky Club operated by Delta, and a United Club operated by United.

The airport incorporates two cargo areas, North Cargo and South Cargo. The North Cargo terminal area is used by cargo airlines. The largest cargo operators are FedEx and UPS. The South Cargo terminal area is used by commercial airlines for cargo operations.

RDU has three runways. Two parallel runways are designated 5L/23R and 5R/23L, and a cross-wind runway designated 14/32. Both parallel runways have been equipped with LED lights.

• 5L/23R: 10,000 by 150 feet (3,048 m × 46 m) (concrete)
• 5R/23L: 7,500 by 150 feet (2,286 m × 46 m) (asphalt)
• 14/32: 3,570 by 100 feet (1,088 m × 30 m) (asphalt)

Before the September 11 attacks in 2001, the RDU Airport Authority and Federal Aviation Administration planned a fourth runway, but with the demise of the Midway Airlines hub and the airline industry downturn following the attacks, this plan was placed on hold. Between May 27, 2008 and June 24, 2008, and between May 19, 2010 and June 17, 2010, runway 5R/23L was closed for renovation.[38]