JetBlue Airways will add two more flights from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Boston. The airline currently offers one flight per day. The additional flights will begin in the summer.

After the addition, JetBlue will be offering seven flights from RDU. The airline began service from RDU in July 2006. Total, there are 192 daily flights from RDU to 35 different cities.

JetBlue's announcement is the second flight addition at RDU recently. Last week, Southwest Airlines announced a nonstop flight from RDU to St. Louis.

Southwest Airlines plans to add a nonstop flight between Raleigh-Durham International and St. Louis this spring.

The move follows an announcement last month by American Airlines that it was pulling the plug on its nonstop between the two cities. American currently operates the only nonstop to St. Louis from RDU but said it would end that flight next year as it focuses expansion at larger airports.

Southwest will offer one nonstop daily between RDU and Lambert International beginning in May. Tickets will go on sale starting in December.

The Raleigh-Durham International Airport continued to see a decline in travelers in July.

However, the 5.4 percent decrease in riders traveling through the airport last month was much lower than the 10.5 percent decrease reported by the Airport Authority Board for June. So far this year, overall traffic for the airport is down 11.6 percent.

In its meeting today, the airport board said part of the decline is due to a decrease in the number of flights being offered by airlines. The number of seats avaialble to passengers in July was down 7.8 percent when compared with a year ago.

Also during today's meeting, the board approved an expansion of the Gordon Biersch restaurant in the airport's new Terminal 2. Open since last October, the restaurant has become popular with business travelers. Construction on the expansion will begin in January.

The Authority also voted to open a wine bar and restaurant called North Carolina Vintages when phase two of the new terminal is completed early next year.

Raleigh-Durham International Airport will receive $4.5 million in federal economic stimulus funds to replace 2,000 incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient LED lighting on a runway.

The Federal Aviation Administration is handing out $1.1 billion in stimulus funds for airport projects. RDU will use its grant, announced Wednesday, to upgrade lighting on the 10,000-foot runway adjacent to Terminal 2.

“For efficiency's sake, this is a great project,” said Mindy Hamlin, RDU spokeswoman. “It will reduce energy costs by up to 60 percent.”

The new lights are expected to last about 13 years, in place of bulbs that had to be changed every six months. The work is expected to start this spring.

“Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act we are creating jobs in North Carolina and across the country while investing in the long-term safety and economic vitality of our airports,” Ray LaHood, the U.S. transportation secretary, said in a press release.

David King, Triangle Transit's general manager, spoke to the editorial board this week, answering questions about why there's still no transit stop planned for RDU and about how transit paths can shape growth in a good way, among other things.

Click "read more" to listen to some snippets from the interview. In the RDU soundbite, King is talking about John Brantley of RDU. Also, there's a blog post on transit written by editorial board member Allen Torrey.

Northwest Airlines will move this month into shared space with its corporate partner Delta Air Lines in the new Terminal 2 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, leaving vacant gates and an opportunity for strategic shrinkage in the old Terminal 1.

That will mean shorter walks on the concourse for Continental passengers.

RDU plans to shut down the Terminal 1 south concourse, where Northwest and Continental Airlines now use Gates A5-A9.

Northwest flights will continue operating out of Terminal 1 until the evening of March 23, when the last arriving flights will shift to Terminal 2. Starting March 24, all Northwest traffic will use the shared Delta / Northwest gates in Terminal 2.

In late April, Continental will shift operations to the center of Terminal 1 in Gates A17-A19, which have been empty since Delta moved to Terminal 2 in November. ... [MORE]

If the taxi is too pricey and your roommate can't pick you up at the airport, a shared-ride van service offers RDU travelers a new option.

RDU last month became the 24th airport with shared-van service provided by SuperShuttle International. You can meet the shuttle at the curb or book reservations online. Your fare quote is based on the ZIP code of your destination (or origin, if you're going to the airport).

It appears that the shuttle is cheaper for solo travelers. But two or three folks sharing a ride still might do better flagging a cab for some airport trips. ... [MORE]

Jim Tatum, attorney for the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority, says there’s a good reason the airport board is meeting behind closed doors today.

The board and airport director John Brantley are receiving a report from a consultant, Capital Associated Industries Inc., on a five-month “human resources study” of RDU.

The report is a mix of general policy discussion (which is supposed to be discussed in the open, according to North Carolina’s open meetings law) and job-performance analysis regarding specific airport employees (which legally can be discussed in private), Tatum said before the meeting started this afternoon. . . .

The Chicago airports are icy today. What's happening with flights between RDU and Chicago, and other flights in and out of RDU?

Here's how to find out.

1. Ask the airline about a specific flight. Airline web addresses and 800 numbers are listed here. It helps to know the flight number, but you can manage if you know the to-and-from airports, and the approximate scheduled departure or arrival time.

2. Check some of the flight-tracking websites linked here.

I had luck with one called Flight Stats. It had a color-coded map to help you find airports with the most delays, a few delays or no delays.

Under 'travel tools,' check flight status of an individual flight or check by airport, enter RDU and choose either arrivals or departures. It gives you a quick list of all the current scheduled flights with info on whether they're on time or how late they are. . . .

The Transportation Security Administration uses something called millimeter wave technology for its full-body scanners at a growing number of U.S. airports including RDU's Terminal 2 ("RDU's new scanners see down to the skin").

It's hard to know just how explicitly the scan records the details of your sex, your surgical scars, and the rest of your body. You can certainly tell the boys from the girls.

One TSA official told USA Today: "You can actually see the sweat on someone's back."

Click the image above for a larger version of the low-rez sample photo provided by TSA.

Read the ACLU's take on body scanners and "virtual strip searches."