Midwest Airlines resumed its nonstop service between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Milwaukee this morning.

The Milwaukee-based company is offering $79 one-way fares from RDU for tickets purchased by April 15, for travel through June 9. Tickets must be purchased at least 14 days in advance.

The carrier stopped service at RDU in September 2008 as the economy slumped and fuel prices surged. Then last November, Midwest announced it would resume two daily nonstop flights between RDU and Milwaukee today.

Delta Airlines will add nonstop service between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport this summer.

The flights are part of the airline's previously announced plan to increase the number of flights headed to California. In addition to Raleigh-Durham, Delta also announced new nonstop service between LA and Columbus, Ohio, Hartford, Conn., and San Francisco.

The Raleigh flights will begin on June 10 and run Sunday through Friday beginning June 10.

American Eagle Airlines plans to add nonstop service between Fayetteville and Dallas/For Worth International Airport, increasing competition for travelers in the Sandhills region.

The affiliate of American Airlines, which already offers nonstop service between its hub in Dallas/Fort Worth and Raleigh-Durham International Airport, will begin the new service in June.

American Eagle will offer two daily nonstops on 44-seat Embraer jets each way between Dallas/Fort Worth and Fayetteville Municipal Airport.

“Not only will we provide visitors from across the country with convenient access to the area's historic sites, universities and award-winning golf courses - but these new flights will also link military personnel from the U.S. Army post at Fort Bragg and nearby Pope Air Force Base with destinations throughout American's global network,” said Gary Foss, an American vice president, in a prepared statement.

RDU officials say there is plenty of demand for travel to the Dallas area from travelers in the Research Triangle region.

"We do not expect it to impact service or competition here," RDU spokeswoman Mindy Hamlin wrote in an e-mail. "We don't expect passengers to drive to [Fayetteville] from here since American offers daily service from RDU on its mainline aircraft."

Southwest Airlines is shaking up its schedule and the Triangle will benefit.

The low-cost airline is adding three more flights — to Baltimore, Chicago Midway and St. Louis — at Raleigh Durham International this spring.

The airline had previously announced the St. Louis flight in October — right after American Airlines decided to pull its nonstop between Raleigh and St. Louis.

With the changes Southwest will operate seven roundtrip flights to Baltimore, four to Chicago Midway and one to St. Louis. The new schedule starts May 9.

The Dallas-based airline is cutting 24 roundtrip flights — none at RDU — and adding 65 new flights for the summer travel season when it expects demand to increase.

More flight changes could be ahead. The airline also announced today that it would add 15 flights to and from Denver in August but did not provide details.

Delta Air Lines opened its new Sky Club at Raleigh-Durham International airport today.

The 4,000-square-foot club replaces the old Sky Club, which was closed in November 2008. It offers club members complimentary Wi-Fi, beverages and snacks, personalized flight assistance, a full-service bar and satellite TV.

It is located in Terminal 2.

"Raleigh-Durham is home to thousands of loyal Delta customers who fly with us each week and Delta's new Sky Club is designed to make Triangle travelers more productive and comfortable," said Ranjan Goswami, Delta's director of customer experience. "We look forward to welcoming members into this new Club and making their trips to, from and through Raleigh-Durham more enjoyable."

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.