Welcome to the Raleigh/Durham Aviation thread - 2023 edition.

Please continue to post your news and discussions below.

Link to the 2022 edition:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1468691

New Year, new topics. Time for some 2022 guesses and predictions. I guess I will go first.

Infrastructure:
- T1 buildout for 2-3 additional gates feasibility study
- T2 breaks ground on expanded FIS, additional gate space begins drawing work
- New hangars start construction
- Consolidated Rental Car design lock
- Digital overhead Airport signs get consideration

Service
- New long haul announced (FRA, Dub, or a Middle East)
- Additional Canada destination announced
- AA adds 2 routes, Delta adds 3, Breeze and Avelo add 2-3 routes
- WN/AC stagnant
- Icelandair goes year round 3-4 weekly
- F9 grows by ~2 new destination
- AS adds either PDX or SAN
- UA upgauge some routes
- Business traffic begins uptick

Other
- Cargo area revamped/shuffled for additional cargo space
- Biometric readers comes to T2
- T1 gets a club
- food options continues to lag behind
- 14 Mil pax

Thoughts?

ERJ170 wrote:

New Year, new topics. Time for some 2022 guesses and predictions. I guess I will go first.

Infrastructure:
- T1 buildout for 2-3 additional gates feasibility study
- T2 breaks ground on expanded FIS, additional gate space begins drawing work
- New hangars start construction
- Consolidated Rental Car design lock
- Digital overhead Airport signs get consideration

Service
- New long haul announced (FRA, Dub, or a Middle East)
- Additional Canada destination announced
- AA adds 2 routes, Delta adds 3, Breeze and Avelo add 2-3 routes
- WN/AC stagnant
- Icelandair goes year round 3-4 weekly
- F9 grows by ~2 new destination
- AS adds either PDX or SAN
- UA upgauge some routes
- Business traffic begins uptick

Other
- Cargo area revamped/shuffled for additional cargo space
- Biometric readers comes to T2
- T1 gets a club
- food options continues to lag behind
- 14 Mil pax

Thoughts?

In terms of Infrastructure, I’d probably agree on that. For service, I disagree in ways.

Service
- I see a new Long haul service, likely Frankfurt or Dublin.
- I also know Porter airlines has announced they want to start service to RDU (as well as CLT, BNA) in their second quarter in operation.
- AA and AS will probably add a few to compliment each other, including more SEA frequencies.
- Delta, if anything, would resume old services that were cut.
- Avelo will probably announce a couple new routes as well as Breeze, who I think will announce an RDU base in 2023.
- WN wants to expand from RDU but I can’t see that with what just happened. AC may add more frequencies on some services or upgrade larger aircraft, as they have done recently.
- Icelandair is already March-January running 5x weekly in peak season (May-October).
- F9 might grow and potentially announce a base as well but they may not if you consider both Avelo and Breeze expansion.
- UA is already going mainline on just about every single departure for some of its routes but I’d love to see a larger size aircraft from them (757,767,etc)

Cargo:
- I think we’ll see some development over there, potentially some expansion for another carrier to enter (Amazon, DHL?)
- T1 has no need for a club considering it is a low cost carrier terminal. We aren’t JFK.
- RDU carried 10,815,156 passengers from January to November in 2022, likely putting it at around 12M for the year. RDU likely will be fully recovered in terms of pax levels in 2023.

Didn’t AC run an A220 to YYZ during the summer last year? I get the feeling both YYZ and YUL would be upgauged before adding a new route.

I should add, beside my psychic predictions, these are the unserved destinations i would personally like to see added:

SAN
SAV
CMH
CHS
SDF
FRA
DOH
YYC, YOW, or YTZ

ERJ170 wrote:

I should add, beside my psychic predictions, these are the unserved destinations i would personally like to see added:
SAN
SAV
CMH
CHS
SDF
FRA
DOH
YYC, YOW, or YTZ

I hope you and the others mentioning SAN are right but I have little hope. Neither AS nor WN -- the most likely to add the route IMO -- seem to be thinking along those lines yet, even though RDU-SAN constantly appears high on "Largest Unserved Domestic Routes" lists I see. I suppose F9 could surprise us all and restart the route...

Happy New Year to you all and let's keep fingers crossed!

bb

ERJ170 wrote:

New Year, new topics. Time for some 2022 guesses and predictions. I guess I will go first.

Infrastructure:
- T1 buildout for 2-3 additional gates feasibility study
- T2 breaks ground on expanded FIS, additional gate space begins drawing work
- New hangars start construction
- Consolidated Rental Car design lock
- Digital overhead Airport signs get consideration

Service
- New long haul announced (FRA, Dub, or a Middle East)
- Additional Canada destination announced
- AA adds 2 routes, Delta adds 3, Breeze and Avelo add 2-3 routes
- WN/AC stagnant
- Icelandair goes year round 3-4 weekly
- F9 grows by ~2 new destination
- AS adds either PDX or SAN
- UA upgauge some routes
- Business traffic begins uptick

Other
- Cargo area revamped/shuffled for additional cargo space
- Biometric readers comes to T2
- T1 gets a club
- food options continues to lag behind
- 14 Mil pax

Thoughts?

One of my big predictions though is that RDU will emerge by 2025 as a major “low cost” hub airport, at least to the news anyway. Avelo already setting up shop, committing 7ish aircraft based here by 2024, with Breeze openly considering a base, Southwest wanting to expand to the west coast, and Frontier who has been slowly building for quite the time.

RDU has been, historically, a 50/50 Business/Leisure destination. As such, I see it as an equally 60/40 Legacy/Low cost airport. LCC does really well where leisure and restricted legacy service is apparent. RDU is not that kinda place. I think seeing these airlines come in is helping. Especially on routes that are not currently served non-stop. But i don't think RDU will ever be a low cost hub. RDU's sweet spot is exactly where it is.. and building upon that has made RDU successful. Granted, having a true hub in place makes it easier to get destinations that are normally out of scope, but i think RDU has and is moving in the direction it is supposed to be. And although the current notion is that business travel is not back like it was, the numbers are saying the traffic numbers are back where they were pre-Covid and business personnel ARE traveling once again. Anyway, just my thoughts.

Delta is not doing its RDU - LAX passengers and favors. DL 763 has been running for a couple years leaving around 5pm. Get in the evening and start fresh the next day. The new direct LAX flight DL686 is now at 6am. Ouch! That makes for a really long day. At one stage there were two direct flights daily. The 737-900ER has been pretty full the last 4 months, so not sure why they changed the timing. If it aint broke, fix it. Maybe RDU is not that much of a focus city for DL after all?

I’ve said this in other threads. I’m not trying to sound harsh when I said this, I’m just calling a spade a spade but DL seems to have just thrown in the towel with RDU and has let other carriers swoop in. It’s very sad they’re not wanting to hold on to their territory and loyal fanbase there.

Seph wrote:

Delta is not doing its RDU - LAX passengers and favors. DL 763 has been running for a couple years leaving around 5pm. Get in the evening and start fresh the next day. The new direct LAX flight DL686 is now at 6am. Ouch! That makes for a really long day. At one stage there were two direct flights daily. The 737-900ER has been pretty full the last 4 months, so not sure why they changed the timing. If it aint broke, fix it. Maybe RDU is not that much of a focus city for DL after all?

It's scheduled to go 2x daily on April 21st. I think Delta is just being ultra conservative when it comes to adding back the P2P flying. As other threads point out, the general pilot shortages probably are not helping with Delta's ideal goals at RDU, but that may be me being hopeful/too optimistic.

The consolation in Delta's retreat from RDU is that AA and UA are catching back up in terms of service, reliability, and loyalty program. Delta was head and shoulders the leader with a superior product for many years. I still believe they are the leader, but the gap is much smaller today. I no longer travel a lot for work, so I'm very happy to be a free agent at an airport that is not single-airline dominant.

But this is another example of not putting too many apples in one basket. Diversity usually means less options, but it also means less dependency. What RDU main goal is would be to add new destinations and frequency, regardless of the carrier.

An outside the box pick for new TATL within the next year or two would be Condor to FRA. They aren't afraid to launch mid-market seasonal routes for 3x weekly, although most don't stick. They have many connection options on the euro-end with Lufthansa/Austrian/Lot/Swiss/Czech. They have an inter-line agreement with JetBlue, but after Jetblue's massive cutback at RDU, I guess that doesn't mean a lot anymore in terms of this hypothetical flight.

The drawback is it would cannabilize RDU's other TATLs, especially the Iceland flight. I'm not sure the market is big enough yet for the (20-22) weekly flights that would result from an additional TATL. In truth, I'd love to see RDU rotate TATL destination and carriers every few years.

ScrantonUSC wrote:

An outside the box pick for new TATL within the next year or two would be Condor to FRA. They aren't afraid to launch mid-market seasonal routes for 3x weekly, although most don't stick. They have many connection options on the euro-end with Lufthansa/Austrian/Lot/Swiss/Czech. They have an inter-line agreement with JetBlue, but after Jetblue's massive cutback at RDU, I guess that doesn't mean a lot anymore in terms of this hypothetical flight.

The drawback is it would cannabilize RDU's other TATLs, especially the Iceland flight. I'm not sure the market is big enough yet for the (20-22) weekly flights that would result from an additional TATL. In truth, I'd love to see RDU rotate TATL destination and carriers every few years.

Would Condor really consider a non-tourism based airport like RDU, or is their leisure focus more concentrated in Europe? Also, would a seasonal flight be feasible, ie during the summer months?

ERJ170 wrote:

I should add, beside my psychic predictions, these are the unserved destinations i would personally like to see added:

SAN
SAV
CMH
CHS
SDF
FRA
DOH
YYC, YOW, or YTZ

I'd think that CHS would be a tough sell, being less than 4 1/2 hours driving distance from RDU. SAV isn't much farther.

I'd put DUB, EYW, and PDX on the list instead of CHS, SAV, and DOH, even if seasonal.

CHS would be a Breeze next logical add since it looks to be their largest base. SAV is a nice size base for them also, which is why i add the both of them. I think EYW would be a great choice but no logical add looks to be in place. If anyone, it would be Allegiant who pulled out.. which is kinda sad because even AVL has EYW but RDU can't and i'm sure there are more passengers from RDU but kudoes to AVL for snagging some good service.

With the huge new Amazon center in Fayetteville, do you think we will see any increase in prime cargo flights to RDU or GSO and then that volume be trucked down to Fay? I suppose FAY could support a 737 if needed but I can’t see there being volume for a 767. Also I’m not sure a commercial 767 could readily use FAYs main 7,500? I know C-17s are pavement limited there but performance isn’t an issue. 767 is a different animal though.

rduhosen wrote:

Would Condor really consider a non-tourism based airport like RDU, or is their leisure focus more concentrated in Europe? Also, would a seasonal flight be feasible, ie during the summer months?

I'm not sure how accurate this wiki page is, but if they tried these services that are listed as Terminated already, RDU isn't that far of a stretch. I tried to source check the info, but was getting conflicting reports. The seasonal routes listed below were mostly (3) weekly last summer from an article I found.

Seattle
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
New York City
Seattle

Anchorage Seasonal
Baltimore Seasonal
Boston Seasonal
Fairbanks Seasonal
Minneapolis Seasonal
Phoenix Seasonal
Portland, OR Seasonal
San Francisco Seasonal

Austin Terminated
Denver Terminated
Fort Lauderdale Terminated
New Orleans Terminated
Orlando Terminated
Pittsburgh Terminated
Providence Terminated
San Diego Terminated

I see LH more than Condor with the UA link-up. I just don’t know if LH has the right aircraft. I feel a 787-8/330-200 would be the right aircraft. But so far LH hasn’t taken the bite so who knows. But Star Alliance is definitely in last place of the Power 3 with TA service…

ScrantonUSC wrote:

rduhosen wrote:

Would Condor really consider a non-tourism based airport like RDU, or is their leisure focus more concentrated in Europe? Also, would a seasonal flight be feasible, ie during the summer months?

I'm not sure how accurate this wiki page is, but if they tried these services that are listed as Terminated already, RDU isn't that far of a stretch. I tried to source check the info, but was getting conflicting reports. The seasonal routes listed below were mostly (3) weekly last summer from an article I found.

Seattle
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
New York City
Seattle

Anchorage Seasonal
Baltimore Seasonal
Boston Seasonal
Fairbanks Seasonal
Minneapolis Seasonal
Phoenix Seasonal
Portland, OR Seasonal
San Francisco Seasonal

Austin Terminated
Denver Terminated
Fort Lauderdale Terminated
New Orleans Terminated
Orlando Terminated
Pittsburgh Terminated
Providence Terminated
San Diego Terminated

Condor stated recently they will focus on trunk/bulk routes similar to its recent expansion into LAX JFK SFO & BOS, MIA was mentioned as potential destination. This would eliminate RDU

CLT gets Qatar service and squashes RDU's ME3 hopes.

Murdoughnut wrote:

CLT gets Qatar service and squashes RDU's ME3 hopes.

How does CLT getting QR service squash RDU? 2 differ t markets. Or is this flamebait?

ERJ170 wrote:

Murdoughnut wrote:

CLT gets Qatar service and squashes RDU's ME3 hopes.

How does CLT getting QR service squash RDU? 2 differ t markets. Or is this flamebait?

Because any potential ME3 service would need to compete with connecting AA service into CLT (or those driving to CLT). AA runs so many RDU-CLT flights that the benefits of adding CLT ME3 service would be weakened. Not flamebait at all.

I predict CLT will get into the air service development game this year for the first time, and start marketing itself to international carriers. RDU has benefited to some extent because CLT hasn't in the past. You have to realize that while CLT and RDU are two different markets, they share considerable overlap in their catchment regions, which goes halfway up Virginia, and into South Carolina.

what is a trunk/bulk route? Never heard that terminology before. Is it synonymous for "a route which LH also flies?"

Murdoughnut wrote:

ERJ170 wrote:

Murdoughnut wrote:

CLT gets Qatar service and squashes RDU's ME3 hopes.

How does CLT getting QR service squash RDU? 2 differ t markets. Or is this flamebait?

Because any potential ME3 service would need to compete with connecting AA service into CLT (or those driving to CLT). AA runs so many RDU-CLT flights that the benefits of adding CLT ME3 service would be weakened. Not flamebait at all.

I predict CLT will get into the air service development game this year for the first time, and start marketing itself to international carriers. RDU has benefited to some extent because CLT hasn't in the past. You have to realize that while CLT and RDU are two different markets, they share considerable overlap in their catchment regions, which goes halfway up Virginia, and into South Carolina.

Still a 2 stop service to the Middle East and Asia if anyone is trying to get there from RDU. So why would anyone say i'd go through CLT to get to India vs going through Paris or London? I don't think CLT getting ME3 service would really have a big affect. It might be another option, but that's what it would be.. another option of the same thing. The same could be said of LHR, RDU passengers could easily go through CLT but the non-stop does well on it's on. Convenience matters.

ERJ170 wrote:

Murdoughnut wrote:

ERJ170 wrote:

How does CLT getting QR service squash RDU? 2 differ t markets. Or is this flamebait?

Because any potential ME3 service would need to compete with connecting AA service into CLT (or those driving to CLT). AA runs so many RDU-CLT flights that the benefits of adding CLT ME3 service would be weakened. Not flamebait at all.

I predict CLT will get into the air service development game this year for the first time, and start marketing itself to international carriers. RDU has benefited to some extent because CLT hasn't in the past. You have to realize that while CLT and RDU are two different markets, they share considerable overlap in their catchment regions, which goes halfway up Virginia, and into South Carolina.

Still a 2 stop service to the Middle East and Asia if anyone is trying to get there from RDU. So why would anyone say i'd go through CLT to get to India vs going through Paris or London? I don't think CLT getting ME3 service would really have a big affect. It might be another option, but that's what it would be.. another option of the same thing. The same could be said of LHR, RDU passengers could easily go through CLT but the non-stop does well on it's on. Convenience matters.

Convenience matters little to the South Asian and Asian communities. I've worked on these route development projects, and the challenge is that they're an exceptionally value driven consumer. Part of the reason we have poor visibility into Chinese originating traffic to the U.S. is because they'll book separate itineraries through Korea with 3+ stops in order to save a small portion on fare. The South Asian community behaves much the same. Any RDU ME3 service would still have to compete with multi-leg stops on other carriers.

Murdoughnut wrote:

ERJ170 wrote:

Murdoughnut wrote:

Because any potential ME3 service would need to compete with connecting AA service into CLT (or those driving to CLT). AA runs so many RDU-CLT flights that the benefits of adding CLT ME3 service would be weakened. Not flamebait at all.

I predict CLT will get into the air service development game this year for the first time, and start marketing itself to international carriers. RDU has benefited to some extent because CLT hasn't in the past. You have to realize that while CLT and RDU are two different markets, they share considerable overlap in their catchment regions, which goes halfway up Virginia, and into South Carolina.

Still a 2 stop service to the Middle East and Asia if anyone is trying to get there from RDU. So why would anyone say i'd go through CLT to get to India vs going through Paris or London? I don't think CLT getting ME3 service would really have a big affect. It might be another option, but that's what it would be.. another option of the same thing. The same could be said of LHR, RDU passengers could easily go through CLT but the non-stop does well on it's on. Convenience matters.

Convenience matters little to the South Asian and Asian communities. I've worked on these route development projects, and the challenge is that they're an exceptionally value driven consumer. Part of the reason we have poor visibility into Chinese originating traffic to the U.S. is because they'll book separate itineraries through Korea with 3+ stops in order to save a small portion on fare. The South Asian community behaves much the same. Any RDU ME3 service would still have to compete with multi-leg stops on other carriers.

Perhaps, but, this would be very appealing to the businesses. This is why AA’s LHR route has been so successful. A lot of people would rather connect for cheap, but the business cabin is relatively full a lot of the time and even ranks as AA’s second most profitable route from LHR per departure.

More than 29 Japanese companies have an office or plant in Wake County… In comparison, we only have 14 UK companies.

With Porter announcing new destinations in the southern US in 2023, do you think it could include RDU?

If so, Would you rather see Q400 to YTZ or 195 to YYZ?

ME, I’d rather see Q400.

Thoughts?

ERJ170 wrote:

With Porter announcing new destinations in the southern US in 2023, do you think it could include RDU?

If so, Would you rather see Q400 to YTZ or 195 to YYZ?

ME, I’d rather see Q400.

Thoughts?

I can see them adding this. I don’t really care which aircraft as long as it opens more opportunities internationally. They applied to fly this route in their second season of operations, along with Charlotte, Nashville, and some others.

Let say hypothetically UA decides to put a wide body on RDU-FRA as was rumored. Could there be 3 wide bodies at 23, 24, and 25 at the same time? The wide bodies seem to spend about 3-5 hours at the gate.

ERJ170 wrote:

UA decides to put a wide body on RDU-FRA as was rumored

Where was this rumored?

ERJ170 wrote:

Let say hypothetically UA decides to put a wide body on RDU-FRA as was rumored. Could there be 3 wide bodies at 23, 24, and 25 at the same time? The wide bodies seem to spend about 3-5 hours at the gate.

Why would United fly from RDU-FRA? Seems like a waste of a tail especially when you can fly up to IAD or EWR to connect to Europe and beyond. RDU, while being a large(ish) market is well served by Delta’s CDG and AA’s LHR service. A more realistic expectation is something like AMS on DL.

ERJ170 wrote:

Let say hypothetically UA decides to put a wide body on RDU-FRA as was rumored. Could there be 3 wide bodies at 23, 24, and 25 at the same time? The wide bodies seem to spend about 3-5 hours at the gate.

The wingspans would disallow this. One thing they could possibly do is where the aircraft arrives around 2-3 hours before CDG and/or LHR. Following the completion of disembarking, the aircraft would then be towed to a gate at the D concourse for the outbound.

Just my original thought, but i always Thought C1, C3, D1, and D3 should have been the widebody and international gates.. Not sure why RDUAA ever thought having widebody gates on the end that is space restricted would be a good idea.. bless their hearts.

Easy to look and see aircraft length of a widebody would be back into the taxi way from the 1s and 3s.

ERJ170 wrote:

Just my original thought, but i always Thought C1, C3, D1, and D3 should have been the widebody and international gates.. Not sure why RDUAA ever thought having widebody gates on the end that is space restricted would be a good idea.. bless their hearts.

Gates along that side of the building can hold 767s, but nothing larger really.

AviationScorpio wrote:

I’ve said this in other threads. I’m not trying to sound harsh when I said this, I’m just calling a spade a spade but DL seems to have just thrown in the towel with RDU and has let other carriers swoop in. It’s very sad they’re not wanting to hold on to their territory and loyal fanbase there.

For its rebuild, Delta focused its limited aircraft and pilot resources first on its coastal hubs in 2022 at the expense of the interior (incl. RDU, MSP, ATL, and basically all of the Midwest). This was on purpose and a "generational opportunity" to build share in BOS, NYC, LAX, and to a lesser degree SEA. 2023 will see restoration of a good deal of mainline seats in such markets. 2024 should see the full restoration of regional flying but that's speculative.

You RDU’ers see CLT now has 3 daily AA flights to London beginning in April? They’ve had twice daily for a while now.

Eaglerare wrote:

You RDU’ers see CLT now has 3 daily AA flights to London beginning in April? They’ve had twice daily for a while now.

Long overdue.

An impressive summer TATL lineup in a post Covid world for CLT.

1x DUB
3x LHR
1x CDG
1x MAD
1x FRA
2x MUC
1x FCO

Is there potential for RDU-MAD with an AA 321XLR in a few years? RDU being a large AA station and MAD being their secondary partner European hub

That is very impressive traffic. Love to start seeing some 787 traffic on future CLT routes once Boeing really ramps up deliveries

mikejepp wrote:

Is there potential for RDU-MAD with an AA 321XLR in a few years? RDU being a large AA station and MAD being their secondary partner European hub

I would say no. CLT is right down the road and in this instance, I think it would go to CLT over RDU with either introduction or frequency. The best I see is a DUB on Aer Lingus. I don’t see AA or any other OW partner initiating TATL service.

mikejepp wrote:

Is there potential for RDU-MAD with an AA 321XLR in a few years? RDU being a large AA station and MAD being their secondary partner European hub

CLT-MAD isn’t even year-round yet, so I imagine no. Our demand to MAD also isn’t crazy high, or even in our top European destinations. Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome are all currently warranting mode demand from RDU than MAD.

Bentheswim11 wrote:

mikejepp wrote:

Is there potential for RDU-MAD with an AA 321XLR in a few years? RDU being a large AA station and MAD being their secondary partner European hub

CLT-MAD isn’t even year-round yet, so I imagine no. Our demand to MAD also isn’t crazy high, or even in our top European destinations. Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome are all currently warranting mode demand from RDU than MAD.

I think there may be demand from both cities on an AA321XLR, the success of Icelandair in RDU pretty much guarantees the smaller narrowbody fight is coming for all east coast cities soon.
I think NorthWestern European Hubs are going to have a leg up over places like Madrid though in terms of routing traffic through.

Avelo has moved to Terminal 1 and started TPA and MCO in the past few days… the remaining FL routes started by the 16th and 17th along with the inaugural Breeze flights to BDL, MSY, and PVD. Good to see some new service and airline.

In other news, RDU has/had open comments for parking expansion. My comment was to build a deck instead of sprawling the current Park and Ride. Yes, it’s more expensive dive but would make it better for catching the bus and better for the environment.

In other other news, I’m ready for the new runway to break ground and ready for expansion of the terminal. And I would love to see a new Canadian and Mexican/Central American entrant. One could hope for competition, right?

Eaglerare wrote:

You RDU’ers see CLT now has 3 daily AA flights to London beginning in April? They’ve had twice daily for a while now.

For all the people that connect in CLT, I'm sure that's great news, but what does that have to do with RDU?!

yoshoward12 wrote:

Why would United fly from RDU-FRA?

Money. Same reason an airline flies any flight (beyond perhaps gov contracted flights).

yoshoward12 wrote:

Seems like a waste of a tail especially when you can fly up to IAD or EWR to connect to Europe and beyond.

One could make that argument about any flight that flies over a hub, but more importantly refer back to the above answer.

yoshoward12 wrote:

RDU, while being a large(ish) market is well served by Delta’s CDG and AA’s LHR service. A more realistic expectation is something like AMS on DL.

I think UA (or *A) would be more likely to enter the market than DL adding a 2nd RDU-EUR flight. That being said, I don't see either as likely at the moment. Side note: I would be more than thrilled if DL exchanged RDU-CDG for RDU-AMS.

RDUDDJI wrote:

Eaglerare wrote:

You RDU’ers see CLT now has 3 daily AA flights to London beginning in April? They’ve had twice daily for a while now.

For all the people that connect in CLT, I'm sure that's great news, but what does that have to do with RDU?!

I’m not sure either but The CLT flights are mainly for connecting passengers where the RDU is for O&D so I would say the RDU flight is more highly valued by AA management than the CLT flights. But it’s good options if someone from RDU misses the nonstop.

ScrantonUSC wrote:

The consolation in Delta's retreat from RDU is that AA and UA are catching back up in terms of service, reliability, and loyalty program. Delta was head and shoulders the leader with a superior product for many years. I still believe they are the leader, but the gap is much smaller today. I no longer travel a lot for work, so I'm very happy to be a free agent at an airport that is not single-airline dominant.

Coming from a Diamond on DL (And Silver on UA), I 100% agree with that statement. DL's cutbacks (not just at RDU, but everywhere) have pushed me to flying UA more often. Anecdotally, I also find DL to be more expensive (sometimes significantly so) on some of the routes I fly.