As Raleigh-Durham International Airport continues to attract new airlines and new flights, two airlines will relocate next month to relieve overcrowding at the main terminal.
The low-cost airlines Breeze Airways and Sun Country Airlines will move from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1.
Breeze, which flies to more than a dozen destinations from RDU, will make the switch on Tuesday, April 2. Sun Country, whose only RDU flight is to its hub in Minneapolis-St. Paul, will move to Terminal 1 on Wednesday, April 17, said Michael Landguth, RDU president and CEO.
“The measures aim to maximize gate space in both terminals, meet the needs of airlines and prepare us for further growth,” said Landguth.
The changes will be announced on airport signs and on the airport’s website, but Landguth said passengers who accidentally go to the wrong terminal can walk through the parking decks separating the two buildings – “a less than five-minute walk.”
Breeze and Sun Country will join three other airlines in Terminal 1: Southwest, Avelo and Spirit. The building has nine gates, compared to 33 in Terminal 2, which will continue to house a dozen airlines, including the two busiest, American and Delta.
RDU plans to increase the number of gates in Terminal 2 this decade, to 53 by 2050, by adding wings to the existing terminals. Before these expansions can begin, however, a new runway must be completed on the west side of the airport and the existing main runway must be converted to a taxiway.
Meanwhile, RDU plans to expand what it calls the “landside” of Terminal 2 to add more ticket counters, baggage carousels and security checkpoints. Contractors are currently working on final designs, and construction is scheduled to begin in early 2025.
Terminal 1 was called Terminal A when it opened in 1982. For a time, it was home to most of the airlines that operated flights at RDU, while American Airlines operated a hub out of Terminal C. After American closed the hub, the building was demolished and replaced by Terminal 2, which opened in 2008.
Southwest had Terminal 1 and five gates to itself for a long time. The airport opened four closed gates in 2022 and allowed first Spirit and then Avelo to join Southwest.
RDU plans to add gates to Terminal 1 at some point, but planning for this expansion is still in the preliminary stages.
After sharp declines during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for travel from RDU has recovered. Last year, more than 14.5 million passengers passed through the airport, surpassing the record set in 2019. Last month, more than 986,000 people flew through the airport, up 10.7% from the same month last year.
