American Airlines To Add Four Non-Stop Flights at RDU

RALEIGH, N.C. – American Airlines and American Eagle are adding four non-stop flights out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

And a non-stop daily flight to Austin, Texas, is being upgraded with a bigger jet.

The additional flights were announced Thursday, just over a week since a new airline, ExpressJet, would offer non-stop service to several markets out of RDU.

American Eagle will launch two daily non-stop flights from RDU to Louisville, Ky., Jacksonville, Fla., and Kansas City, Mo., as of May 1. ExpressJet will also serve those markets.

Additionally, American is adding a daily non-stop to New York’s LaGuardia Airport as of April 10.

American also said it would replace American Eagle’s smaller commuter jet with a larger MD80 flight for non-stop service to Austin, Texas.

The LaGuardia flight addition and the Austin flight expansion are being made due to customer demand, American Airlines said.

The American Eagle flights will utilize Embraer jets with either 37 seats or 44 seats.

"When the new flights are in place, American and its regional partners will have 67 daily flights at Raleigh/Durham to 16 different destinations, the most of any carrier,” said Peter Bowler, chief executive officer of American Eagle.