News

Member Briefing: January 11, 2019

NCDOT hosts outstanding summit
This week, NCDOT hosted its first statewide Transportation Summit, in partnership with the NC Go statewide organization. Around 1,000 people registered for the two-day event – including dozens of RTA members – to learn about transportation safety, future transportation funding, disruptive technologies, and more. I offered some thoughts about the excellent Summit, and one potential implication from a funding standpoint, in my weekly Thursday Thoughts at 3 blog.

RDU has a new “largest” carrier, and a new smallest carrier
In January 2018, Frontier Airlines served 3 destinations from RDU. By May 1st, the Denver-based ultra-low cost carrier will have the largest number of nonstop destinations among all carriers from RDU during the summer months, with a total of 32 nonstop destinations – a few more than Delta Air Lines, which will continue to be our largest carrier overall with around 30% of all passengers. In addition, Via Airlines will begin service this spring to a single, but currently unserved destination city from RDU, Birmingham, Alabama. This is an incredible increase in destination cities and a testament to the strength of our air travel market. It is also great news in terms of providing new travel options and keeping fares low.

Did you know? RDU contributes $12 billion to our economy
NCDOT just released a summary of the impact of airports and air travel on North Carolina’s economy. A local highlight from the NCDOT Division of Aviation report: aviation-related businesses that engage with RDU International Airport contribute more than $12 billion in economic output, 86,000 jobs, nearly $3 billion in personal income and more than $450 million in state and local tax revenues — based on a 2018 analysis of 2017 airport data by the Institute for Transportation Research and Education, a program of RTA Leadership Team member NC State University. Sustainable funding for RDU remains one of our highest priorities as an organizationlook for more information on RTA efforts to highlight the impact and importance of our hometown international airport in the coming weeks.

Thank you for investing in the regional business community’s voice on transportation!

Let’s get moving,

Joe

Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA Executive Director



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