Airport Authority Considers Strategic Projects to Prepare For Future Growth

As business and leisure travelers resume air travel from RDU, the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority is renewing its focus on establishing the long-term strategic direction of the airport. The Authority Board of Directors kicked off Friday a series of strategic planning meetings to consider revisions to RDU’s Strategic Plan.

“Our operating environment, passenger expectations, human capital concerns, technology dependency, the demand for innovation and the political, economic and social environments are all changing and evolving at an incredible pace,” said Patrick Hannah, chairman of the Airport Authority Board. “The Authority Board is renewing its focus on the airport’s long-term strategy to support regional economic growth and improve domestic and global connectivity.”

The Authority’s current Strategic Plan was developed in 2015. RDU added more than four million total annual passengers in the four years that followed, prior to the onset of COVID-19 and its impacts on aviation. Both events underscore the significant shifts observed locally and across the industry during the past half-decade.

RDU posts its annual budget and Business Plan publicly each year via RDU.com.

On Friday, the Board also received briefings on key projects and issues, including the proposed concession operating management structure and a staff recommendation to adopt a policy pertaining to the future selection of construction managers for various projects. The Board voted to approve an easement with Duke Realty for overlap areas near Innovation Avenue and received a briefing on current parking capacity constraints due to the recent uptick in passenger volume. In response, the Authority is working on a plan to reopen Park Economy 3 as soon as possible.

The Airport Authority Board of Directors will reconvene in July for another special strategic meeting.