Nonstop flight to Paris returns to RDU for 1st time since COVID-19

A nonstop Delta flight to Paris returned Monday to Raleigh-Durham International Airport for the first time since it was paused in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Posted 9:13 a.m. Aug 1, 2022 — Updated 2:49 a.m. Aug 2, 2022

Nia Harden

, WRAL reporter

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — A nonstop Delta flight to Paris returned Monday to Raleigh-Durham International Airport for the first time since it was paused in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lauren Doyle, a local travel expert, said more passengers are traveling to Europe again. She said she knows multiple Triangle families visiting right now.

CNBC reports hotels in Europe have been cheaper and, according to CheapAir.com, the price of airfare has decreased 15.1% from last year.

The article features a list of which cities in Europe are the cheapest to visit, naming Vienna, Brussels and Budapest. Even in Paris, a three-night hotel stay would cost around $767 instead of the $841 it cost in July 2019, CNBC reports.

As gas prices drop, Doyle predicts flight prices will too, meaning more people will take advantage of nonstop flights.

Doyle said booking early and avoiding holidays is the key to landing a great deal overseas.

The first nonstop flight to Paris left RDU at 6 p.m.

“This is an exciting day at RDU as we send passengers off to Paris for the first time in more than two years,” said Michael Landguth, president and CEO of the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority. “We appreciate Delta’s commitment to bringing this signature destination back to the Research Triangle.”

The return of the nonstop Paris service brings the number of international flights at RDU to six, including three transatlantic flights – the highest number in the airport’s history.

Delta launched RDU’s Paris service in 2016 but the route was paused during the pandemic.

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