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RDU International Airport


Rufus

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In other news.. looks like XJet is dropping Kansas City (MCI) on June 7... leaving XJ with 3 daily flights (2 to New Orleans, 1 to San Antonio).. a big difference from the 11 they started with.

In other news, looks like Eagle is adding capacity back to LaGuardia with 2 additional daily flights bringing the total to 9 daily (8 Eagle, 1 American).

Delta's Crown Room appears to be on track to open with the terminal, as well as American's Admiral Club. Read in the Triangle Business Journal that there may be a snafu if DL/NW moves to Terminal 2 Concourse D because there is no room in the inn!!! And I didn't know the Concourse designation either.. I'm assuming Terminal 1 will have Concourse A and B while Terminal 2 will have Concourse C and D.

Southwest Denver flight starts May 10 but they will drop a BNA flight in August or June (can't remember)...

Delta is increasing their summer ATL schedule up to 11 daily flights.. course, they are dropping FLL altogether and MCO is dropping to 2 daily flights (or is it being dropped too, can't remember).

I propose everyone gathers their money and I will start an airline with RDU as the hub using Embraer 175 aircraft and fly to places where non-stop service is not available.. then codeshare with DL and AA to get to the established places RTPers want to go? Who's in?

Nonstop to Providence? Nassau? Buffalo? Charleston? West Palm Beach? Islip? New Bern? etc?

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And it looks like there may be more drops for RDU.

AUS is dropped 9/1 as well as mainline to STL. Looks like only Connection will fly the RDU-STL flights. Once again, AA is slowly entrenching away and RDU is feeling the burn. Meanwhile, looks like other airports are looking healthy and getting flights left and right..

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And it looks like there may be more drops for RDU.

AUS is dropped 9/1 as well as mainline to STL. Looks like only Connection will fly the RDU-STL flights. Once again, AA is slowly entrenching away and RDU is feeling the burn. Meanwhile, looks like other airports are looking healthy and getting flights left and right..

Dropping Austin is a surprise. I flew to and from Austin last weekend. The flight out was easily 80% full and coming back was completely full.

Update on Terminal 2. I heard from a concessionaire that the grand opening party for media and dignitaries is September 15. The Terminal is supposed to be operational October 1.

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Update on Terminal 2. I heard from a concessionaire that the grand opening party for media and dignitaries is September 15. The Terminal is supposed to be operational October 1.

Ehhh.. that's not really good. They wanted the Convention Center and Terminal 2 opening in very close sequence (with the Ternimal first) so visitors could get an entire new experience coming to RDU. Oh well, close enough. Either way, this is great news. I want official word so I can buy a DCA-RDU-DCA flight on American Eagle to experience the new ternimal.. Ohhh.. Ahhhh.. Wow....

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Here's an interesting Flickr image of RDU's new Terminal 2 (former American Airlines Terminal C complex)

You can see a small portion of it on the other side of the central parking decks.

2456052526_dbf56c2c44_b.jpg

Sorry, but this is Terminal A, the old terminal. I can't see any of the new terminal. Any photos out there?

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I must say, looking at that flikr picture.. Terminal A IS a very sad sight to see as you fly into RDU.. it just looks soooo drab.. I'l be glad when it gets renovated.. hopefully there will be a lot more windows put in.. and something more exciting to see as you pull up to the gate..

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  • 1 month later...

Here's a question.. will there be a duty free store? I think there should be one.. I also noticed that the signs were NOT in multiple languages.. that's a shame.. they could easily think in the future if they added spanish and japanese languages...

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Flew in late last night from out of the country. It is looking good. I was waiting for the park and ride bus on the base floor and you could see in. It wil be very open. But they have some big pipes to move (steam pipes maybe). I guess they will go underground because right now they are above ground and go underground right in front of the door leading out of baggage.

Anyway, the building looks good.

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It looks like RDU will be losing 777 service to London. Starting in November is will be downgraded to a 767.

rdu is losing much more than that - aa service to kansas city, jacksonville, louisville, ne arkansas, newark and austin and i think united service to denver and delta service to slc.

terrible timing with the new terminal coming online in a couple of months. i know the airport wanted to announce flights to paris or frankfurt but that probably wont be happening now. . .

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I've flown a couple of those cancelled flights and I'm amazed at so many discontinuations. The flights I was on (both distant past and recently) were 80-100% full. I know cost of fuel is killing the industry, but what economics actually do work if a FULL flight is not profitable?

My hope is that RDU's improvements will position us well for picking up flights when the industry rebounds. 1-2 years?

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Express jet is pulling out of RDU now. EJ, we hardly knew ya. I would imagine that there's no chance in hell that Terminal 1 gets anything more than a mild facelift now. I doubt RDU can finance a major $300M+ rebuild in this market place with just gate and parking fees. With low air travel growth and a brand new Terminal 2 about to open, there's not much reason to do so.

Well, news isn't all bad. Despite losing 10% of the peak number of daily flights by Sept, actual enplanements at RDU are up 2% over the prior year, through May 2007. I suppose some of that will drop with the flights being lost and the continued market reaction to the energy spike, but one would also think many of these new daily non-stop flights were not quite ready for prime time.

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I'm really not surprised by all the cutbacks on flights. The airlines are doing this nationwide and are practically to the point that they will need another government bailout to keep them afloat. The airline industry is hurting, period. I have a friend in NYC that said there were even some cuts there. The airlines eliminated many duplicate flights coming from both airports, for example, Delta offering flights to Atlanta from both La Guardia and JFK cutting them to just JFK and so forth. Airlines are desperate to cut the bleeding of red ink and I'm sure once everything is sorted out and the industry adjusts itself, we will see flights and companies come back.

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...which is why the Terminal 2 replacement grates me to the core. Old Terminal C wasn't that bad. It needed a coat of paint, but otherwise, it was decent enough to not be confused with a bus terminal. Had we replaced the other airport out there, we'd have a first rate building and a second-rate building. Now we're getting stuck with a new terminal and this embarrassment as long as we can imagine, or longer. Great gateway to our region. :sick:

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Old Terminal C wasn't that bad. It needed a coat of paint, but otherwise, it was decent enough to not be confused with a bus terminal.

Hahha.. I have been in Terminal A and Terminal C.. and regardless of what others thing.. Terminal C was always the worst looking one of them both. I mean, the blue building was not the greatest, but it was at least decent. Terminal C was just AWEFUL!!! And besides, Terminal A WORKS.. because it was always a building for O&D. Terminal C does not WORK for O&D.. and THAT is the major difference.. Terminal A can be easily fixed cosmetically.. Terminal C is needed structural fixes..

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Express jet is pulling out of RDU now. EJ, we hardly knew ya. I would imagine that there's no chance in hell that Terminal 1 gets anything more than a mild facelift now. I doubt RDU can finance a major $300M+ rebuild in this market place with just gate and parking fees. With low air travel growth and a brand new Terminal 2 about to open, there's not much reason to do so.

Well, news isn't all bad. Despite losing 10% of the peak number of daily flights by Sept, actual enplanements at RDU are up 2% over the prior year, through May 2007. I suppose some of that will drop with the flights being lost and the continued market reaction to the energy spike, but one would also think many of these new daily non-stop flights were not quite ready for prime time.

The energy fundamentals are just too difficult for air travel to sustain a broad market in the long run. The 787 dreamliner, considered a quantum leap in airplanes, improves fuel efficiency by 25%. That's a tremendous industrial achievement, but it's still not going to turn back the tide. Fuel prices are up 200% in the last few years, and are likely to stay at current levels or continue to rise.

Fearless prediction: in about 15 years time, mainstream passenger travel at RDU will be confined to the new Terminal 2, and the current Terminal A, never improved, will be sitting in mothballs. PTI may be closed by then. Air travel is steadily returning to the position it held in the 1950s- a luxury and business travel enterprise.

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