RDU lands another nonstop international flight to another island destination
.jpg "BermudAir will begin nonstop flights from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in April 2025.")
People will be able to fly nonstop between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Bermuda starting in April.
BermudAir will begin flying two days a week between RDU and L.F. Wade International Airport in St. George, Bermuda, on April 11. Bermuda becomes the 10th international destination with nonstop service from the Triangle.
The Bermuda flights will operate on Fridays and Mondays on 70-seat Embraer E175 aircraft. The flights to the British island territory take just over two hours.
The airline intends to operate the service year-around, said Adam Scott, founder and CEO. Bermuda is known for its pink-sand beaches and island culture, but BermudAir aims to serve more than tourists.
“We want to serve our communities with year-around connectivity so we can also embrace and build upon business partnerships,” Scott said in an interview. “Bermuda is a very developed financial center for reinsurance and the like, and so year-around connectivity is paramount for us and hopefully for the markets that we serve.”
Data collected from other airlines shows a healthy number of people already making the trip between the Triangle and Bermuda, Scott said. BermudAir expects those numbers will grow with nonstop service.
“We think that there is a great opportunity to not only alleviate the headaches of having to travel through a hub but also then to further develop the market and our economic ties by having the direct service,” he said.
BermudAir is a new airline and the first based in Bermuda. Its inaugural flights on Sept. 1, 2023, went to Boston and Westchester County, New York, outside the city. By late April, it will serve 10 destinations in the U.S. and Canada, with the addition of RDU, Hartford and Charleston, South Carolina.
RDU has aggressively recruited new airlines, touting the Triangle’s growing, affluent population and offering financial incentives in some cases. Ten carriers have started doing business in the Triangle since 2021, bringing the current total to 18.
BahamasAir, which began flying nonstop between RDU and Freeport on Grand Bahama Island in November 2022, has discontinued that service, according to RDU.
Three airlines — Aeromexico, Copa and Lufthansa — made their inaugural flights to international destinations from RDU this summer. In addition to Bermuda, travelers can now fly nonstop to four cities in Europe, two in Canada, two in Mexico and one in Panama.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 9:35 AM.
