American Airlines Expands, Contracts In Raleigh
If you are taking a trip to London from RDU, you will now arrive at a new airport in England. Thanks to the Open Skies Agreement between the United States and Europe, your new destination will be Heathrow airport instead of Gatwick airport.
Here is the press release sent out today by American Airlines, but I want you to look closely and see what they don’t mention in the release.
RDU Airport, NC – On Saturday, March 29, American Airlines will begin nonstop service between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and London’s Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport. The move makes RDU one of American Airline’s seven gateway cities to Heathrow, which offers connections to cities throughout Europe and the Middle East. The change is made possible by a new “open skies” agreement between the U.S. and Europe that lifts restrictions on transatlantic flights.
The first flight between RDU and London Heathrow takes off Saturday at 6:25 p.m. Officials report that the inaugural flight is nearly 90 percent full. American Airlines will offer the daily nonstop service using its 245-seat Boeing 777.
The flight between RDU and London Gatwick has been popular with Triangle area travelers since its launch in May 1994. In 2001, American Airlines transitioned from the 165-seat Boeing 767 to the larger Boeing 777 to meet demand for the flight. RDU and American Airlines will celebrate the inaugural flight on Saturday with a gate celebration. American Airlines currently offers 19 daily nonstop flights from RDU to seven destinations. American Eagle offers 47 daily departures to 12 destinations.
OK, so after reading this, I got to wondering: Does this mean American will now have TWO non-stop flights to London from RDU. After doing a little investigating, it turns out the answer is no. Great job on the positive spin by the PR department…you never want to talk about eliminating any flights, so they simply didn’t talk about it.
The Open Skies agreement is great though; it allows U.S, carriers to have a lot more flights overseas…which, if oil prices ever drop, could mean overseas fares could drop too.
Here is a quick list of all the new flights made possible by Open Skies.
British Airways’ flights from Brussels and Paris to New York
Delta Air Lines service to Heathrow from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and Atlanta; to Lyon, France, from JFK and to Paris from Salt Lake City and JFK
Continental Airlines service to Heathrow from Newark and from Houston Intercontinental Airport
Northwest Airlines flights to Heathrow from Detroit, Minneapolis and Seattle
US Airways service between Heathrow and Philadelphia
A United flight to Heathrow from Denver
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