With travel holiday well underway, passenger traffic continues to trend in a positive direction at RDU. During the month of November, 575,067 passengers departed RDU, an 11.2% increase compared to November 2017. Thanksgiving travel saw a single-day record for RDU, with about 25,000 passengers departing the Sunday following the holiday. Passenger traffic for the 2018 calendar year at RDU thus far is 11.7 %, an increase of 9.7% over last year.

Expansion to the Terminal 2 checkpoint recently began. The expansion – which will add two new lanes for processing passengers – is set to help RDU meet the growing passenger demand the airport continues to experience. The project should be complete by spring 2019 and will ease congestion at Terminal 2.

Construction Projects Update

RDU is in the middle of an Environmental Assessment for the expansion of ParkRDU Economy 3. Comments from community participation in the Assessment’s first public workshop can be found at www.rdu.com.

Chairman Farad Ali Takes a Bow

The Dec. 20 Authority Board meeting marked the final session for outgoing RDUAA Chairman Farad Ali. Chairman Ali served on the Board of Directors since February 2012, representing the City of Durham. During his time on the Board, Ali represented RDU and the Research Triangle region in support for an increase to Passenger Facility Charge (PFC), used to fund airport infrastructure project. In his role as an advocate for inclusion and fair business practices, Ali served on the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) as chairperson from 2016 to 2018.

“Under Farad’s leadership, the Authority developed and approved a Vision 2040 Plan that smartly lays out the long-term infrastructure investments our community needs from its airport,” said RDUAA President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Landguth. “The highlight of that plan is the development of a new 11,500-foot runway that will allow the Triangle to fly anywhere in the world nonstop.”

Airport Improvements Approved

The Board approved several agreements during its Dec. 20 meeting, including:

• $7,895,717 contract amendment with Balfour Beatty Construction for Improvement to elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks in the parking garage atrium.
• $1,531,285 contract amendment with Balfour Beatty construction for the West Remain Overnight (RON) Apron Rehabilitation. The project will increase overnight aircraft parking.
• $214,017 multi-year agreement with Team Wash for Transit Bus Cleaning Services.

About the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority
The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority operates Raleigh-Durham International Airport. In 2017, 11.6 million passengers, about 32,000 people per day, flew through RDU. With 62 nonstop destinations and 9 airlines, RDU connects central North Carolina to the people and places that matter most. RDU powers our region’s economy with an $8.5 billion annual economic impact supporting 5,000 on campus and 20,000 regional jobs. RDU has the lowest average airfare of major North Carolina airports and was named the best connected medium hub airport by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Center for Aviation in 2016 and 2017. Learn about the Airport Authority board, including its monthly meetings.