Rebound in air travel means Spirit Airlines is switching terminals at RDU. Here’s when.
Starting April 15, Spirit Airlines will move to Terminal 1 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, joining Southwest Airlines.
For years, Southwest Airlines has been alone in Terminal 1 while every other carrier has served passengers out of Terminal 2.
Spirit will use four gates (A1–A4.) that have been mothballed since Terminal 2 was completed in 2008. RDU installed new jet bridges, ticket counters and kiosks, offices and baggage handling space and equipment.
RDU said Spirit travelers should follow signs to Terminal 1 on Friday. Those who inadvertently go to Terminal 2 can cross through the parking deck to find Terminal 1.
Southwest will continue to use the five other gates in the building, which was the main terminal at RDU for years before Terminal 2 opened.
Spirit was initially scheduled to move in April 2020, but the collapse of the airline industry in the opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic put that on hold. At the time, Allegiant Airlines was also expected to move to Terminal 1, but it will stay put for now.
Spirit’s move is another sign that air travel is rebounding, and RDU again needs to make room in its main terminal. Airlines are gradually adding back service, particularly to leisure destinations. Last week, Frontier Airlines added seasonal flights to eight destinations starting in May, while discount carrier Avelo announced it would become RDU’s 13th airline, with service to New Haven, Connecticut.
More than 695,000 passengers flew through RDU in February, more than double the same month last year but still 28% fewer than in 2020.
Spirit handled about 143,500 passengers at RDU last year, less than 2% of the airport’s business. Southwest was RDU’s third busiest airline, serving more than 1.4 million passengers in 2021, or about 16.5% of the total.
Spirit initially flew to seven cities from RDU when it started doing business in the Triangle in 2019. It now serves two, Miami and Orlando, and has two flights a day from.
It’s not clear yet what the planned merger of Spirit and Frontier will mean for the two airlines and their operations. The two companies hope to become one later this year but have not disclosed what that will mean for branding and schedules.
In the meantime, the two carriers are operating independently, which at RDU will soon mean working out of different terminals.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 9:18 AM.
