COVID-19 outbreak empties RDU airport terminals, parking lots and slashes revenue
To get a sense of how the coronavirus has affected air travel you need only visit the massive parking deck between the terminals at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
The more than 11,000 spaces here can fill up on busy days, forcing travelers to use one of three remote parking lots that can accommodate another 10,000 cars and trucks.
The remote lots have been closed since last month, and on any given day the parking deck is anywhere between 95% and 99% empty, said airport president Michael Landguth. Parking normally accounts for 40% of RDU’s revenue, Landguth said.
Airlines have grounded planes and slashed their schedules because of falling demand during the pandemic. The number of passengers still flying is 96% less than the same time last year, Landguth said.
RDU is set to receive $49.6 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security or CARES Act passed by Congress in late March. The bill provides $10 billion to airports nationwide to help them pay their employees and keep their doors open.
RDU had expected to spend nearly $300 million on operations and construction projects in the fiscal year that began April 1. It has now put nearly $160 million of that spending on hold, including $110 million in capital projects and $20 million for operations. Landguth refers to what’s left as a “survival budget ... to keep the lights on and prepare for recovery.”
RDU has asked the General Assembly for help. In a letter to lawmakers this week, Landguth called the drop in passenger traffic “unprecedented and unsustainable,” and asked that the state consider providing some financial support for airports.
Landguth says car rentals and business at shops and restaurants in the terminals, two other sources of revenue for the airport, are off more than 90% compared to last year.
“Many have reduced their hours or closed their stores,” he said of businesses in the terminals. “We expect that the few stores and restaurants that remain open will close soon.”
A small consolation for the drop in air travel from RDU is that the airport can get more rehab work done on its main runway, which was built in 1986 and is nearing the end of its useful life.
To keep the 10,000-foot runway open while RDU plans a parallel replacement, the airport has been digging up and replacing the most deteriorated concrete at night, one 25-by-25-foot slab at a time. The work at night allows the concrete to cure in time for the runway to be used each evening by long-haul international flights and those carrying cargo.
Workers managed to replace 117 slabs last spring and fall this way, said John Kane, chairman of the RDU Airport Authority.
With those international flights now canceled and other air traffic pared back, RDU is now using its secondary 7,500-foot runway full time, Kane said, allowing workers to replace concrete slabs at all hours. RDU plans to be able to replace 100 slabs this month alone, he said.
The new main runway will cost an estimated $350 million and will be 1,500 feet longer than the existing one, to ensure that a fully-loaded and fueled plane bound for Asia could safely take off. It’s not expected to open until 2025.
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
