Raleigh–Durham International Airport

Early view of Raleigh–Durham Airport

The region's first airport opened in 1929 as Raleigh's Municipal Airport, south of town at 35.735°N 78.656°W / 35.735; -78.656. It was quickly outgrown, and in 1939 the North Carolina General Assembly chartered the Raleigh–Durham Aeronautical Authority to build and operate a larger airport between Raleigh and Durham. This was promoted by Eastern Air Lines, led by then chairman Eddie Rickenbacker who wanted to make RDU a stop on the airline's New York–Miami route.

The new Raleigh–Durham Airport opened on May 1, 1943, with flights by Eastern Airlines. The passenger terminal was built from materials remaining after the construction of four barracks for the Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command airfield.[6] The three runways the airport had in 1951 are still visible on the southeast side of the airport: 4500-ft runway 5, 4500-ft runway 18 and 4490-ft runway 14.

After World War II, Capital Airlines joined Eastern at RDU; Piedmont Airlines arrived in 1948. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 36 departures a day: twenty Eastern, eight Capital and eight Piedmont. Nonstop flights did not reach beyond Washington, Atlanta, or the Appalachians (but Eastern started a Super Constellation nonstop to Newark in 1958). The next airline (aside from United's takeover of Capital in 1961) was Delta Air Lines in 1970. In April 1969, nonstops didn't reach beyond New York or Atlanta, and Chicago was the only nonstop west of the Appalachians. RDU's first scheduled jets were Eastern 727s in 1965.

In the 1970s, the last decade before airline deregulation, Piedmont connected RDU to Charlotte, Greensboro, New Bern, Norfolk, Richmond, Rocky Mount, Washington, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.[7] United flew to Asheville, Charlotte, Huntsville and Newark,[8] while Eastern flew to Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond and Washington,[9] and Delta flew to Chicago and Greensboro.[10]

After deregulation, Allegheny Airlines arrived in 1979, and by 1985 Trans World Airlines, American Airlines, Ozark, People Express, New York Air and Pan Am had all put in appearances.

American built a terminal at RDU between 1985 and 1987 to house a new hub, and flew to 38 cities when the hub started in June 1987.[11] The December 1987 timetable shows AA nonstops to 36 airports and Eagle prop nonstops to 18 more. American later flew to London and Paris.[12] The RDU hub operated at a loss even during its heyday in the early 1990s, like the hub AA then had at Nashville.[13] American's December 1992 timetable, around the time of the hub's peak, showed 211 daily departures to 64 destinations, almost all in the eastern United States (the westernmost destinations being American's hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago–O'Hare).[14]

The hub faced intense competition from Delta and Eastern in Atlanta and from USAir in Charlotte, as well as the short-lived Continental hub in Greensboro that opened in 1993.[15] American began to consider closing the hub in late 1993; operations were reduced until June 1995 when American closed the hub.[14][15] Nonetheless, it retained the daily nonstop flight to London, which continues to operate to this day.[16][17]

Midway Airlines replaced AA as the airport's hub carrier from 1995 until 2003.[18] In 1995, Midway had flights to Boston, Hartford, Long Island, Newark, Newburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Washington in the Northeast, and to Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach in Florida.[19] American subleased its gates at RDU to Midway in order to repay $113 million in American-guaranteed bonds which had been used to construct the hub facilities.[20] Midway suspended service for some time after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and ceased operations in 2002, filing for bankruptcy in 2003.

RDU has been a hub for two airlines, and can handle wide-body aircraft

RDU's post-hub years have brought the addition of new carriers and destinations, notably discount carriers such as Allegiant Air, Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines. Because of the economic downturn and high fuel prices in 2008, American ended most point to point flights it operated out of the airport. Several mainline flights were also dropped and service to other cities was reduced or downgraded. Other airlines also cut flights and destinations including United Airlines and US Airways.

By 2010 RDU's traffic began to recover. In the first few months of the year passenger numbers stabilized at RDU, ending the decrease the airport experienced in 2008 and 2009. In the first four months of 2010 2.7 million passengers traveled through RDU.[21] Growth was flat compared to the same period a year before, but these signs were positive indicating that the decline was over. Airlines at RDU began to add new services to the schedule with both legacy and low-cost carriers significantly increasing service since the early 2010s.

The RDU Airport Authority released its Vision 2040 Master Plan in 2017 detailing the improvements which will be made by 2040. The major projects are the construction of a consolidated rental car facility, an on-site hotel, expansion of parking lots, expansion of both terminals to add gates, improvements to the taxiway layout, and the complete rebuilding of the runways. Runway 5R/23L will be lengthened to 9,000 feet and runway 5L/23R will be rebuilt to 11,500 feet just northwest of its current position. The existing runway 5L/23R will become a taxiway.[22]

In this expansion, dubbed “Vision 2040”, they also plan for at least 23 new gates and expanded security areas. In addition, several taxiway reconstruction projects have taken place and plan for new aircraft aprons, expanded cargo areas, new hangers and of course, new destinations.

RDU contains two terminals and three concourses. The two terminals do not have an airside connection. Passengers moving between the terminals may ride a shuttle bus or take the moving walkway through the covered parking decks between the terminals.

Terminal 1 contains 9 gates.[23] The terminal was built in 1982, expanded in both 1998 and 2001, and then modernized in 2014 with the 1998 and 2001 expansions demolished in 2016.[24][25] The terminal occupies the site of the airport's original terminal which opened in 1955.

Terminal 2 contains 36 gates, four of which are international gates.[26] The terminal opened in phases between 2008 and 2011 and replaced former Terminal C that was built between 1985 and 1987 for the American Airlines hub.[21] The terminal features an Admirals Club, United Club and Delta Sky Club for American, United and Delta frequent flyers respectively.

The airport incorporates two cargo areas, North Cargo and South Cargo. The North Cargo terminal area is used by cargo airlines. The largest cargo operators are FedEx and UPS. The South Cargo terminal area is used by commercial airlines for cargo operations.

RDU has three runways. Two parallel runways are designated 5L/23R and 5R/23L, and a crosswind runway is designated 14/32. Both parallel runways have been equipped with LED lights.

• 5L/23R: 10,000 by 150 feet (3,048 m × 46 m) (concrete)
• 5R/23L: 7,500 by 150 feet (2,286 m × 46 m) (asphalt)
• 14/32: 3,570 by 100 feet (1,088 m × 30 m) (asphalt)