Editing Research Triangle (section)

====Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU)====
{{Main|Raleigh–Durham International Airport}} {{airport codes|RDU|KRDU|RDU}}
[[File:2008-07-30 RDU welcome sign.jpg|thumb|[[Raleigh–Durham International Airport]] welcome sign]]
Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) has nonstop passenger service to 68 destinations with over 450 average daily departures, including nonstop international service to Canada, Europe, and Mexico.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nonstop Destinations Raleigh–Durham International Airport|url=https://www.rdu.com/airline-information/airline-destinations/|access-date=19 October 2017}}</ref> It is located near the geographic center of The Triangle, {{convert|4+1/2|mi}} northeast of the town of [[Morrisville, North Carolina|Morrisville]] in [[Wake County, North Carolina|Wake County]]. The airport covers 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) and has three [[runway]]s.<ref name="FAA">{{FAA-airport|ID=RDU|use=PU|own=PU|site=27013.1*A}}, effective February 1, 2018.</ref>

In 1939 the General Assembly of North Carolina chartered the Raleigh–Durham Aeronautical Authority, which was changed in 1945 to the Raleigh–Durham Airport Authority. The first new terminal opened in 1955. Terminal A (now Terminal 1) opened in 1981. [[American Airlines]] began service to RDU in 1985.

RDU opened the {{convert|10000|ft|m|adj=on}} runway, 5L-23R, in 1986. American Airlines opened its north–south hub operation at RDU in the new Terminal C in June 1987, greatly increasing the size of RDU's operations with a new terminal including a new apron and runway. American brought RDU its first international flights to [[Bermuda]], [[Cancun]], [[Paris, France|Paris]] and [[London]].
[[File:RDU-27527.jpg|thumb|American Airlines [[Boeing 777]] touches down at RDU]]
In 1996, American Airlines ceased its hub operations at RDU due to [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] and [[Eastern Airlines]]. Pan Am and Eastern were [[Miami International Airport|Miami's]] main tenants until 1991, when both carriers went bankrupt. Their hubs at MIA were taken over by [[United Airlines]] and American Airlines. This created a difficulty in competing with [[US Airways]]' hub in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] and [[Delta Air Lines]]' hub in Atlanta, Georgia for passengers traveling between smaller cities in the North and South. [[Midway Airlines (1993–2003)|Midway Airlines]] entered the market, starting service in 1995 with the then somewhat novel concept of 50-seat [[Canadair Regional Jet]]s providing service from its RDU hub primarily along the East Coast. Midway, originally incorporated in [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], had some success after moving its operations to the midpoint of the eastern United States at RDU and its headquarters to Morrisville, NC. The carrier ultimately could not overcome three weighty challenges: the arrival of [[Southwest Airlines]], the refusal of American Airlines to renew the frequent flyer affiliation it had with Midway (thus dispatching numerous higher fare-paying businesspeople to airlines with better reward destinations), and the significant blow of September 11, 2001. Midway Airlines filed [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] on August 13, 2001, and ceased operations entirely on October 30, 2003.

In February 2000, RDU was ranked as the nation's second fastest-growing major airport in the United States, by Airports Council International, based on 1999 statistics. Passenger growth hit 24% over the previous year, ranking RDU second only to [[Washington Dulles International Airport]]. RDU opened Terminal A south concourse for use by [[Northwest Airlines|Northwest]] and [[Continental Airlines]] in 2001. The addition added {{convert|46000|sqft|m2}} and five aircraft gates to the terminal. Terminal A became designated as Terminal 1 on October 26, 2008. In 2003, RDU also dedicated a new general aviation terminal. RDU continues to keep pace with its growth by redeveloping Terminal C into a new state-of-the-art terminal, now known as Terminal 2, which opened in October 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rdu.com/airportdev/termc-updates.htm|title=Raleigh–Durham International Airport<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref> 

As of June 2022, the airport will have international flights to Cancun, London, Montreal, Paris, Reykjavik and Toronto. Cancun and London service is provided by American, Frontier and JetBlue, while the Canada flights are provided by Air Canada, Paris by Delta, and Reykjavik by Icelandair. Icelandair is the first international carrier outside of Air Canada to service the airport. Delta Air Lines currently considers the airport to be a "focus city", or an airport that is not a hub, but is of importance to the carrier.  The COVID-19 pandemic significantly shrunk the operation, but by September 2022, Delta will be serving 21 destinations on aircraft ranging from the CRJ700 to the 767.