Terminal 2 better expand quickly or beef up terminal 1
I’m pretty sure these low cost carriers will join Southwest in Terminal 1
Breeze will be in Terminal 2. Avelo will join Spirit and Southwest over in Terminal 1.
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There’s a bit of Tetris that has to happen before Terminal 2’s gate expansion occurs. The plan is to build four piers extending from the building, but taxiway B and runway 5L-23R are in the way. So first, the new runway 5L-23R will be placed west of the current one — which will become the new taxiway. At that point, work can finally begin on developing the piers.
There’s other expansion work that can occur sooner at Terminal 2, including the landside portion of the facility — think customs, redeveloping the ticketing and security checkpoint, etc.
Terminal 1 can be expanded more quickly since it’s not geographically constrained.
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There’s numerous options for expansion. Picture 1 is the phases for terminal 1 expansion (which was released in January 2020). Pictures 2-4 were alternatives proposed during the making of the current master plan that could be options that would allow for expansion without needing to build out towards the runway (meaning it can be built independently)
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I believe that T1 scheme is still considered the plan. There hasn’t been any discussion of those T2 alternatives (or new terminal concepts) recently; one infrastructure consideration is the plan to expand the loop road (John Brantley Boulevard) out to accommodate a new consolidated rental car facility and parking deck build-out.
The current T2 plan is the development of those piers; the new runway is actively in early-stage development, so it makes sense to follow that sequence of events.
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I believe that T1 proposal is still planned, but they haven’t set a date on that. Those are old plans from 2017 when they were finalizing 2040. If they needed more gates than they could add off existing infrastructure, that’s likely where they would add them.
But I’ll probably be quicker to build at 1 than two they could pretty much expand fully south towards the start of Brantley Blvd. North can end at the runway. Terminal 1 very much could be hub for southwest if that company wishes too.
And on both sides hopefully they already have the funding and at the rate both terminal 1 take 2-3 years to do.
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RDU placed 11th in the Midsize category of the WSJ’s airport rankings. Strong value score was offset by middling reliability and convenience scores.
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Per RDU’s latest email (and scheduling), KEF now starts March 8, up from the original May 3 start date. It will go 5x weekly on May 29. Looks like this service is going well!
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Just passing along a pleasant outside perspective:
I saw Adam Conover at Goodnights this weekend (host of TruTV’s “Adam Ruins Everything” for those unfamiliar - definitely worth a watch, very educational and entertaining) and he commented on how “beautiful” our airport is (his words!) and then when the audience cheered, his face lit up and he said (paraphrased) “Wow! Most cities don’t really take pride in their airports, what a nice surprise that Raleigh does! It was so nice! With those wooden high-vaulted ceilings…” yadda yadda yadda. Clearly, he did not fly SouthWest 
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Honestly, everyone seems to like it. I think the WSJ’s metrics undervalue the “soft” scores about how pleasant a place it is to wait in.
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I just saw this trending on twitter lol. I’m glad that RDU has a direct flight to Paris. https://twitter.com/jacobirving10/status/1597017099452678144?s=46&t=wAJO3qUe9HXxk7eoL_aMcg
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We need Mr. Beast to fund regional rail in the Triangle. We can name it The Beast Line.
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Frontier cutting routes to 6 cities - Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Trenton, New Jersey, and Buffalo. I’m really curious what data they had in the first place that made them think these routes would be successful. Places like Denver, Cancun, San Diego, Miami, Punta Cana, etc. would make more sense for a budget airline when folks want a cheap direct flight for a long weekend gettaway, not Trenton.
Allegient Airlines’ Punta Gordo FL route is cut - the airline will no longer operate out of RDU.
Delta cuts Nashville service (still served by AA & SW).
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With the destruction of SW Florida from Ian, it’s not hard to imagine reduced demand to go to Punta Gorda.
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Pretty sure TBJ doesn’t understand what the word “cut” means because all those frontier routes are seasonal and come back in April/May. They do in fact work. My sister takes the Trenton link all the time. She’s a student at UNC and her boyfriend lives in New Jersey, and it’s much easier for her to travel to Trenton, and sometimes she’s done Newburgh, instead of flying into NYC
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Yup was literally looking at Cincinnati flights for April yesterday…
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https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2022/12/07/breeze-airways-new-rdu-nonstop-flights.html
Breeze to CMH and JAX starting in May.
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