Business class
(Business North Carolina, February 2015)
More than 100 Triangle companies are banding together to lure a new international flight to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The Regional Transportation Alliance launched a $500,000 initiative in December to market and recruit a nonstop flight overseas, likely to western Europe — Paris and Germany are top contenders. That’s in addition to $500,000 pledged by the Airport Authority. RDU opened Terminal 2 in 2008 and reopened Terminal 1 last spring, capping years of construction and renovation to make it more appealing to travelers and airlines.
The airport has played second fiddle to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the American Airlines Group hub that had more than four times the number of passengers in 2014. American has offered flights between RDU and London for more than two decades, but boosters want more for an area that added 900,000 people since 1990.
“It’s going to help many companies become more successful,” says alliance Executive Director Joe Milazzo. “That new flight might make the difference for a company expanding.” Not everyone traveling to Europe will have a final destination of France or Germany, but it would improve travel efficiency. An expanding tech industry and the Triangle’s research universities provide a steady base of customers.
“Direct access to a major European site also improves access to Asia, a market that has become increasingly important to our business,” says Steve Brechbiel, senior director for corporate communication at Durham-based Quintiles and the alliance’s membership development vice chair. “But this initiative is not only about access for us to Europe and Asia, it is also about access to the Triangle from those growth markets.”
Ultimately, airlines will make the decision, but RDU could sweeten the pot by using fundraising proceeds to provide revenue guarantees during the flight’s initial months.