Twenty-nine years and four months after it opened at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the ugly blue box formerly known as Terminal A will serve its last passengers today.  It will not be missed.

AirTran Airlines, with four daily flights to and from Atlanta, is the last carrier still operating in the big central section of what RDU now calls Terminal 1.  After the last flights tonight leave at 7:59 p.m. and arrive at 11:40 p.m., the security checkpoint and bag-claim carousels will shut down.

Starting Tuesday, AirTran will be housed in the old north end of Terminal 1 -- sharing desk space, security checkpoint and baggage carousels with its new corporate parent, Southwest Airlines. AirTran will use Gate A24.

What happens next? RDU will close off the central section of Terminal 1 later this year in preparation for a $60 million makeover.  ... [MORE]

Twenty-nine years and four months after it opened at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the ugly blue box formerly known as Terminal A will serve its last passengers today.  It will not be missed.

AirTran Airlines, with four daily flights to and from Atlanta, is the last carrier still operating in the big central section of what RDU now calls Terminal 1.  After the last flights tonight leave at 7:59 p.m. and arrive at 11:40 p.m., the security checkpoint and bag-claim carousels will shut down.

Starting Tuesday, AirTran will be housed in the old north end of Terminal 1 -- sharing desk space, security checkpoint and baggage carousels with its new corporate parent, Southwest Airlines. AirTran will use Gate A24.

What happens next? RDU will close off the central section of Terminal 1 later this year in preparation for a $60 million makeover.  ... [MORE]

JetBlue Airways, the discount airline with flights to three destinations from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, will move its operations into Terminal 2 starting Wednesday. [See 5/12/11 story "At RDU, a flourish for Terminal 2; a fix for Terminal 1."]

Passengers who fly JetBlue to New York Kennedy, Boston and Fort Lauderdale will use gates C8 and C10 in the new Terminal 2.

The move will leave Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airlines, whose merger was completed last week, as the only carriers using Terminal 1.

AirTran will move later this month into the north end of Terminal 1, where Southwest is located now, so RDU can close the main part of the building in advance of a Terminal 1 renovation project that will start next year.

If the cost of air travel has you grounded you might be interested in AirTran's 48 hour sale.

The airline has put tickets from RDU to Atlanta and Baltimore/Washington on sale until 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Travel from RDU to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport will cost you $74 one way. Meanwhile a flight from RDU to Atlanta is $53 one way.

Travel is valid from Dec. 1 through Feb. 9.

The sale comes as airline prices have been steadily increasing. Holiday air fares are expected to be 7 percent to 18 percent higher this season over last. Of course, AirTran's sale will not help you there. The cheaper fares are blacked out around the holidays.

The tickets to Atlanta are good on nonstop flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Blackout dates are Dec. 17 through Jan. 4.

The tickets to Baltimore/Washington are good for travel on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Blackout dates for those flights are Dec. 20, 2010 through Jan. 3.

You can buy the tickets online at airtran.com or by calling 1-800-247-8726.
 

Southwest Airlines announced this morning that it plans to buy AirTran for about $1.4 billion, as consolidation continues to reshape the airline industry.

One of Raleigh-Durham International Airport's busiest carriers, Southwest is buying AirTran to gain more exposure to existing markets such as New York and Boston, as well as new markets. The deal is one of the first unions between the nation's discount carriers.

Last year, Southwest handled 21.25 percent of passengers at RDU, while AirTran handled 4.86 percent, according to RDU data. AirTran currently has direct nonstops between RDU and Atlanta, where the carrier is based.