In North Carolina, Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) has opened its new West Remain Overnight (West RON) aircraft parking ramp.
This new 558,000-square-foot parking area will allow planes that arrive at night and depart early the next day to park closer to Terminal 2, where a large percentage of morning departures take off.
By reducing unnecessary taxiing for aircraft, the completion of this project advances RDU’s Vision 2040 master plan, which aims to make airport operations more efficient and sustainable.
Michael Landguth, President and CEO of the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority, said:Expanding RDU’s overnight aircraft parking capacity fulfils a milestone in Vision 2040, the master plan that guides us in growing responsibly to meet our community’s increasing demand for air travel. The new West RON is more convenient to Terminal 2 and positions aircraft closer to the terminal when gates become available for morning departures.
With about a third of RDU’s daily flights departing between 5am and 8am, the early hours are the busiest time of day at RDU. This typically results in a lineup of planes waiting for a gate in the mornings.
The new parking area will streamline this process by allowing large aircraft to remain parked near the terminals before their gates are announced.
Construction on this 37 million USD infrastructure project began in 2020 and was made possible by the North Carolina General Assembly, which provided funding over a period of four years.
