RALEIGH
Delta Air Lines is resuming nonstop flights from the Triangle to two destinations it hasn’t served since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Delta announced Friday that it will resume nonstop flights between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Cincinnati on Sept. 12. The daily flights will leave RDU at 7 a.m. and are scheduled to operate year-round.
Delta also said it would begin weekly flights to Cancun, Mexico, on Dec. 16. The seasonal flights will take place only on Saturdays through April 6, 2024.
Travelers will be able to start booking seats on both flights on June 24.
Delta will have competition on both routes. American Airlines already flies daily between RDU and Cincinnati, while Frontier Airlines will continue making two round-trips a week on that route into the fall, when it normally shifts to warmer weather destinations.
Meanwhile, JetBlue is the only airline currently flying nonstop between RDU and Cancun. But other airlines, including American, have offered winter flights between the Triangle and the Yucatan resorts in the past.
The new flights come as demand for air travel from the Triangle has begun to exceed pre-pandemic levels. Since January, airlines have added 42 new routes from RDU, including 20 to new destinations. People can now fly nonstop from the Triangle to 65 places, up from a pre-pandemic peak of 57.
Budget airlines such as Frontier, Breeze and Avelo are helping bring travelers back. But Delta Air Lines remains the busiest at RDU, carrying nearly 29% of passengers so far this year, followed by American at 28% and Southwest at 14.2%.
This story was originally published June 23, 2023 5:27 PM.
