Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)

Raleigh–Durham International Airport is the main airport serving Raleigh, Durham and the surrounding Research Triangle region of North Carolina. It is located 7 km northeast of the town of Morrisville in Wake County. The airport covers 1,995 ha and has three runways and direct flights to 38 domestic and international cities on 352 daily flights. In 2011 more than 9 million passengers traveled through the airport. The RDU Airport Authority is in charge of the airport facilities and its operations. The Airport Authority is controlled by a board of representatives from the counties of Wake and Durham and the cities of Raleigh and Durham.

Terminal 1

Southwest Airlines aircraft parked at the north end of Terminal 1.

Renovated Terminal 1

The first terminal at RDU opened in 1955. Expanded in 1972 and again in 1976, the building was named Terminal B in 1982 when the then-new Terminal A opened. The two terminals were connected by a landside interior walkway. Terminal B was closed in 1989. In 1994, Terminal B lost its identity when it was renovated into an extension of Terminal A; an airside walkway was added to link all gates. In 2001 the south end of Terminal A was extended to include five temporary gates; these gates were closed in 2009, as the airlines using them moved to other gates.

Terminal A was renamed Terminal 1 on October 26, 2008 to bring RDU in line with terminal naming conventions and to end years of confusion.

After years of proposals, the 1981 part of Terminal 1 was closed in 2012 for a complete renovation. The building reopened on April 13, 2014 with nine gates; initially, Southwest and AirTran occupied the rebuilt terminal. The pre-1981 parts of Terminal 1 and the 2001 south-end extension were demolished as part of this rebuild. The terminal achieved LEED certification in December 2014.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 occupies the site of the former Terminal C, built between 1985 and 1987 for the American Airlines hub. In planning the terminal, American assumed that only around 20% of passengers would originate or terminate their trips in Raleigh–Durham; rather, Terminal C was optimized for the exchange of passengers between connecting flights, with a r