RDU Airport, NC – With the addition of non-stop service to Los Angeles in June and new carrier JetBlue beginning service on July 20, RDU Airport Director John Brantley noted that passenger traffic is able to grow again.

Even though the past year has seen a decline in the size of aircraft departing RDU and the associated number of seats, the number of passengers remain almost the same as this point in time last year.

“With the conditions in the industry right now, having our passenger numbers stay the same is a good thing,” Brantley said.

For the month of June 2006, enplanements were up by 154 passengers to 437,952, or essentially the same as June 2005 figures. For the year to date, passenger enplanements are down 0.3 percent.

Passenger deplanements also remained essentially the same. For June 2006, deplanements were down 1.7 percent over June 2005, with year-to-date figures 1.1 percent less.

Enplaned cargo year-to-date figures are the same for 2006 as 2005, and deplaned cargo is up 2.3 percent.

The number of vehicles exiting the terminal area public parking lots declined 0.8 percent in year-to-date figures, although revenue is higher than last year. Taxicab trips were 106,318 through June 2006, up 6.8 percent over 2005 year-to-date figures.

With the addition of JetBlue, RDU now has nine major airlines and 15 regional carriers, with 224 daily departures to 37 destinations. RDU will also gain service to Columbus, Ohio in September and JetBlue plans to add an additional flight to Boston on Oct. 18.

###