Airlines, Led by Budget Carriers, Add New Flights From Raleigh-Durham International

Budget airlines continue to expand their offerings from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, led by two start-ups that may still be unfamiliar to Triangle travelers.

Avelo Airlines announced Thursday that it will begin flying nonstop between RDU and Wilmington, Delaware, on June 22. Avelo, which started at RDU with a single flight last year, now flies to 12 destinations from the Triangle, including seven in Florida.

Also, Breeze Airways said this week it will begin flying nonstop between RDU and Islip on New York’s Long Island on June 29. It will be the ninth destination from the Triangle for Breeze, which made its debut at RDU in February.

Meanwhile, low-cost carriers Frontier and Sun Country are increasing the frequency of flights to cities they already serve. And two other carriers have decided to establish year-round flights on routes they now serve only part of the year: Delta to Nashville in June and JetBlue to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in early July.

Altogether, airlines have added 38 new nonstop flights to their schedules from RDU so far this year.

The new Avelo and Breeze flights are typical of the business model for both airlines. Both airports are close to big cities (Philadelphia and New York) but are not served by legacy carriers. Avelo will be the only carrier flying between RDU and Wilmington, while Breeze will have competition from Frontier, which flies seasonally to Islip starting in June.

Another similarity: Both Avelo and Breeze will operate the new flights twice a week, Thursdays and Sundays, rather than daily.

With the addition of Wilmington, airlines now offer nonstop service between RDU and 65 destinations, more than before the COVID-19 pandemic, when air travel largely halted and carriers cut back.

“Our airlines have announced 20 new nonstop destinations in the last 90 days,” Michael Landguth, RDU’s president and CEO, said earlier in the week before the Avelo announcement. “On top of that, we’ve also added three new airlines that have launched service in the past 12 months, so that’s pretty significant growth.”

Landguth said he expected airlines will serve more Triangle passengers this year than they did in 2019. That was RDU’s busiest year on record, with more than 14 million people passing through the airport.

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