Non-Stop International Flights from RDU (appointed, price, cheapest)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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Over the Atlantic, I think that's right. Southwest and Icelandair had a relationship at one time but nothing much came of it. Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic but that doesn't really count.
Aside from Latin America and the Caribbean, Hawaiian flies to several countries around the Pacific. Alaska had routes into Russia during a brief period of good relations across the Bering Strait.
At one point, there was an agreement on flights between the US and Europe. If you weren't one of the big three, you couldn't fly directly between the two. One way around that was to stop in a place like Iceland. Not sure if the restriction is still there, but that is why companies like Wow gave it a shot.
An agreement is non binding to parties not in the agreement. There may have been route and schedule cooperation among the big 3 but the likes of Air France, Alitalia, Aer Lingus, British Airways, etc have been flying US-Europe for decades. WOW gave it a shot because they tried to compete with Icelandair and failed.
The stopover in Iceland was a marketing ploy by it's flag carrier Icelandair and has transformed the country to a tourist destination. It's a beautiful country.
Pardon my aviation ignorance....but with the recent news of the new/expanded runway at RDU....will this make flights to Asia and Oceania out of RDU a realistic possibility?
I've heard that the current runways don't allow for the aircraft needed for those long-haul flights and that RDU had the goal of expanding/adding runways to accommodate those routes in the near future. Is this what that is?
Airport CEO suggests "more long haul" capability but specifies "more" Trans-Atlantic flights (of which there are already several); without specifying Trans-Pacific (of which there are currently none).
Initially they wanted to build the runway long enough (11,500 feet) to support flights to Asia, but with the pandemic affecting travel they scaled back plans while preserving the option to extend it later.
The new one is a bit longer (10,639 feet) to help support flights to the west coast at maximum load.
Pardon my aviation ignorance....but with the recent news of the new/expanded runway at RDU....will this make flights to Asia and Oceania out of RDU a realistic possibility?
I've heard that the current runways don't allow for the aircraft needed for those long-haul flights and that RDU had the goal of expanding/adding runways to accommodate those routes in the near future. Is this what that is?
Airport CEO suggests "more long haul" capability but specifies "more" Trans-Atlantic flights (of which there are already several); without specifying Trans-Pacific (of which there are currently none).
If RDU were to get an Asia flight before CLT i'm sure that would go over well with some people.
The new one is a bit longer (10,639 feet) to help support flights to the west coast at maximum load.
Courtesy of the 737-900 and perhaps the 737 MAX 9 and 737 MAX 10. I believe all the Airbus 320 and 320neo variants can make it to the west coast fully loaded from a 10,000-ft runway at our altitude on a hot day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by uncchgrad
If RDU were to get an Asia flight before CLT i'm sure that would go over well with some people.
There aren't many aircraft large enough to have the range for Asia from RDU but small enough to be operated with a high load factor from a market the size of RDU. The 787 and A350. Those are in big demand these days.
Courtesy of the 737-900 and perhaps the 737 MAX 9 and 737 MAX 10. I believe all the Airbus 320 and 320neo variants can make it to the west coast fully loaded from a 10,000-ft runway at our altitude on a hot day.
There aren't many aircraft large enough to have the range for Asia from RDU but small enough to be operated with a high load factor from a market the size of RDU. The 787 and A350. Those are in big demand these days.
Interesting.
Incidentally I am taking a trip to Japan next month; booking the flights became a whole ordeal in trying to figure out timing/realistic layovers/breaking up the long distance etc...
Would have assumed that a layover out West first would have cut the time overall a bit; booked an itinerary with layover in Denver through united (plane is a 787-9)...but turns out that the flight time from DEN-NRT is only about 20 minutes longer than one from Dulles or Newark. Flight home has connection in Dulles; and total travel time is 3 hours shorter (I realize that tailwinds and earth's rotation help in this with the direction of travel from East Coast US to Japan vs Japan to East Coast US)
All that to say; would be cool for RDU to expand to the point of having direct flights to Asia. I'd imagine it would be to South Asia before East Asia but would still be cool.
As far as people at CLT being upset about it...only a few who post on these forums. Most would be able to comprehend that a region with 3 major research universities and the largest research park in the world would potentially have a stronger market for flights to Asia.
CLT also has a max of 10,000 feet on its runways, including the new one it just broke ground on, so RDU will have a bit longer one once its project is done.
Now, I assume CLT could extend one of more runways if necessary, but as of now there are no firm plans for longer runways there.
CLT is a busy airport, but that's due to its status as an AA hub largely for north-south traffic for the east coast and down to the Caribbean. Despite its overall passenger numbers, it only has a handful of transatlantic destinations.
RDU definitely has more local demand to Asia for business travel than Charlotte. Charlotte's international business connections are overwhelmingly with Germany, with over 200 German businesses operating in the area and 59 US headquarters. Thus CLT is pretty well served to Germany with 3 daily flights between Lufthansa and American to Munich and Frankfurt. Charlotte is the only AA hub with a flight to Munich and only DFW joins with service to Frankfurt due to these strong economic connections. UK is the second strongest business connection, and CLT is already very well served to London with 3 daily year round flights. Don't really need any more than that to the UK either.
Does CLT need a nonstop to Asia? Not really. Only about 11,000 people in the Charlotte region work for around 137 Chinese or Japanese companies. RDU's business connections are just stronger. To further make it unlikely, American Airlines is VERY weak to Asia and the hub won't really help. American only serves 3 cities in East Asia right now (Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai) from Los Angeles and Dallas on 6 daily flights... essentially irrelevant in the market. They are not at all like Delta or United that have strength across the Pacific. Given AA is so weak in Asia, they are largely focused on connecting through DFW or leveraging Japan Airlines and it is very unlikely we'll see AA try to use CLT for service to Asia. I think it is more likely we'll see South American service to CLT than Asia, as that is AA's strongest international region where they have experience building demand.
So yep, CLT person here, but I would definitely put RDU ahead of CLT for Asia service. CLT may be slightly more likely to get Qatar to Doha, just due to onward connections on both ends given Qatar and AA are both in OneWorld. East Asia... being an American hub... nah.
Last edited by CLT4; 09-23-2023 at 10:47 AM..
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