Raleigh-Durham International Airport

Due to population growth, in 1939, the North Carolina General Assembly chartered the Raleigh-Durham Aeronautical Authority to build and operate an airport between the cities of Raleigh and Durham (as the Raleigh Municipal Airport could not handle all the traffic). The new airport opened on May 1st, 1943, as Raleigh-Durham Airport, with the passenger terminal built from materials left over from the construction of four barracks for the Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command airfield. There were three runways at the time, 5 (4,500 feet), 18 (4,500 feet), and 14 (4,490 feet). Flights were serviced by Eastern Airlines. Following the end of WWII, Capital Airlines also began servicing the airport, followed by Piedmont Airlines in 1948. United took over Capital in 1961, and Delta Air Lines started servicing RDU in 1970. Deregulation in 1978 brought about more airlines, including Allegheny Airlines, TWA, American Airlines, Ozark, People Express, New York Air, and Pan Am. In June 1987, American Airlines opened a new terminal to house a hub, which allowed it to fly to 38 cities. At its peak, the hub had 211 daily departures to 64 destinations, but it was always a struggle as there was intense competition from Delta and Eastern in Atlanta, USAir in Charlotte, and even a Continental hub in Greensboro. As such, the American hub often operated at a loss and was forced to close in 1995. They did keep a daily nonstop flight to London. From 1995 to 2003, Midway replaced American as RDU’s hub carrier, mainly flying to the East coast, having subleased American’s gates. The hub ended when Midway filed for bankruptcy in 2003. Economic realities and the end of the hubs at RDU have brought about the presence of discount carriers such as Southwest Airlines, Allegiant Air, and Frontier Airlines. In turn, the major U.S. airlines cut flights and destinations from RDU. In 2008, RDU underwent a modernization process, with the current Terminal 2 opening (on the site of the old Terminal C, which had been built in 1987) in 2011. In early 2010 traffic at the airport began to recover, and Delta has kept the airport as a focus city to this day.

The airport is located in unincorporated Wake County, with the city of Raleigh to the North and the East and the towns of Cary and Morrisville to the South.

• In November 2022, Avelo Airlines announced the opening of its operating base at RDU. 
• The RDU Vision 2040 Master Plan has set its sights on adding a consolidated rental car facility, an on-site hotel, a complete rebuild of the runways, improvements to the taxiway layout, and expansions to parking lots and the terminals. 
• The local restaurants at RDU use local produce when available, and there are healthy choices available at the various restaurants.