RDUairport

At this point in time RDU does not need a 3rd parallel runway. The investment in Terminal 2 will be much more of a benefit. Maybe I can help clear up some of the confusion about this 3rd parallel runway at RDU. It is not designed to operate simultaneous landings or takeoffs with today's rwy 23R/5L. IF the 3rd parallel runway was constructed it would be 23R/5L and the CURRENT 23R/5L rwy would be renamed 23C/5C (for center). With the 3rd parallel runway aircraft would not use all three runways for landings and takeoffs. 23L/5R would continue to see both landings and takeoffs, while 23C/5C and 23R/5L would share landings and takeoffs. One runway (for example) 23C/5C would be used for all takeoff operations while 23R/5L would be used for all landing operations. This concept is effective and would be more than enough to handle RDU's future increase in operations, and is what was proposed when Midway Airlines was at peak operations during its RDU hub years. So to review a 3rd parallel runways still only means two runways would see simultaneous landing/takeoff, one being 23L/5R due to the spacing issue which is legit. A 23R/5L and 23C/5C concept would allow one runway to concentrate on takeoffs while the other on landings. This divide and conqurer concept does make a huge difference and is what the 3rd runway would accomplish for RDU. 3 runways for simultaneous landins/takeoffs:NO 3 parallel runways a benefit for RDU @ some point in future (based on demand): YES --- Also someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that the new runway at GSO was part of the deal for Fedex to locate its hub there. That runway would not be constructed if it hadn't been for Fedex moving its mid-Atlantic hub operations there. Overall: we should be happy for both airports. RDU does draw decent passenger numbers and they will increase in the future as the aviation market lets it and GSO has finally caught a break by landing the Fedex hub. GSO's proximity to RDU and especially CLT has kept it from really building a passenger market. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen in the future. I say the best of luck to them all. I'm always glad to see any NC airport grow. Hope this helped clear up some of the runway issues

It's very sad that we won't be able to see the 777 anymore after November however not all is lost. AA has just started installing winglets on their 763s so when November does role around we will have something to look forward to. All of their 763ERs are suppose to recieve winglets so over time if we don't get the 777 back as we have before we should see more and more 767s with winglets. FYI the winglets are huge! (11 feet tall)

Could've been an osprey. They are stationed down an New River Air Station in Jacksonville, NC. I've seen them flying over Raleigh a couple of times. Depending on what day you were out there you may have seen a plane going/coming from the Coastal Carolina Air Show in Wilmington, NC over the weekend.

Yea WRAL has had some good stories and I was wondering because for the last month it has all but stopped. I can't wait to hear something because I believe RDU has a good chance.

CUN could be worked on an E70 for a Saturday flight but do you really see NAS and MBJ?.. NAS doesn't even work on an ERJ135 once a week so I personally don't expect that one back and MBJ isn't going to happen. It is much easier for airlines to route people through ATL or MIA than direct from RDU. Has anyone heard anything from Netjetz? I would have thought that they would have made some type of announcement by now. Should be exciting.

That route would have to at least have a E70. If they put a CRJ9 on there or smaller I wouldn't expect the route to last long at all. It would be like the Denver flight on the CRJ7. The issue wouldn't be about weight restriction like the Denver flight was but it wouldn't be a fun flight for passengers (especially if there is a screaming baby on the plane). I'd say the LAX flight will be OK. We have the numbers to support the flight and within a few years as numbers grow this flight will eventually move from seasonal to year around.

Sounds very interesting.. Do you have a link you might be able to post. I have some old pictures of what they envisioned for terminal A before RDUAA attained terminal C from AA. I doubt it will look anything the same but still very interesting. Hope to here more on this.

It probably wouldn't have kept going up only because Midway was the reason we were topping 10 million and they were in very rough waters at the time. 9/11 was just the push that put Midway over the edge (very sad, I loved those white and yellow 737s). Also due to the economy starting to slump that year numbers would have probably leveled out and gone down a bit the next year. However I do believe that if it wasn't for 9/11 we would definitely be seeing 11 to 11.5 million today. Just my two cents...

Don't know if anybody else got out to RDU today but an ATA (Air Trans America) L1011 flew in today from LAX as a private charter. It later flew to Cancun. This is a very rare event because there are so few L1011s still flying. I managed to get a few photos which you can see below.

I noticed that Delta has the RDU-LAX route discontinued on Jan. 7th... Don't know if this is for sure but it doesn't show up in the schedule after that date so it may be gone. Hate to break such news but it looks to be gone in a few days. They may pick it back up after the winter season.

I'll see if I can get some information on this 747 that keeps coming in. I know it's a big cargo season but I'm wondering if there is anything else because this flight is usually an Airbus A300-600F and there is a big difference between these aircraft. The 747s have been coming in for the last five days so I'll what I can find. Also I still don't have access to my photos because I'm with family so I'll try to get them posted soon.

Great picutures. I took some earlier this week but haven't photoshoped them yet so maybe I'll post them up later. I also took a video of the 747 arriving this morning around 0600 and posted it on youtube. Its not good quaility at all but if you'd like to see it here is the link. 747 @ RDU video

Yes the 747 has come in for the last three days. It arrives at RDU between 0450 and 540 in the morning and departs around 1000 to 1030 in the evening. There is another one landing this morning around 450 that I plan to catch so I'll try to snap a few photos. I got some photos of the one on Wednesday that I'll post latter for all to see. This will probably be the last one coming in because they will most likely not bring one in over the weekend, so try to catch it sometime today if you have the time to go out and see it. It'll be parked on the North Cargo ramp. You can see it from the observation deck overlooking 23R/5L.

Just incase anyone is interested there is an Atlas Air Boeing 747-200 at RDU today. It's flying for UPS from Louisville. If you'd like to check to see what aircraft are coming into and flying out each day go to www.flightaware.com and search krdu. Gotta love this time of the year.

Yea I know the picture of the concorde that your talking about. It came in to celebrate the opening of runway 23R/5L. My dad actually got video of it but misplaced it and I never got to see it... The picture that I'm sure your talking about was on rdu.com a few years ago, but I haven't seen it lately. If you email the airport authority they may be able to email the photo or give you a link. Also today a Boeing 757 came in insteand of the MD-11... so if you are going to try to catch it make sure you check flightaware.com first. I thought I saw that an MD-11 was coming in today but I guess I was mistaken.