John Brantley Airport Director

2005 Takes Off With a Great Start
Editorial

Winter is behind us, and we're well into the spring of 2005. Good news so far is passenger and flight activity continue to grow. New Orleans service has started strongly, and new service to Salt Lake City begins June 1st. The first construction elements of new Terminal C, extension of the safety areas at both ends of the runway nearest to Terminal A and renovation of the two older parking areas across from Terminal C are getting underway. The eight-year project to completely redevelop RDU's general aviation area is nearly finished.

With construction underway on and around Terminal C, our customers are likely to experience some inconvenience during the balance of the year from this work, particularly the parking garage renovation and some roadway realignment in that area. Please bear with us as that proceeds toward planned completion prior to the Thanksgiving 2005 holiday. Aside from that work, there should be little significant impact on RDU's users.

On the financial side, the Authority's strong fiscal position was recognized by Moody's and Fitch assigning their highest single A ratings of creditworthiness (A1 and A+ respectively) to $126 million in revenue bonds being sold to begin financing the construction of new Terminal C. Later this year, a second bond series in excess of $300 million will be sold to complete the Terminal C financing. Efforts are now underway to try to achieve an even better interest rate on those bonds, the success of which may allow the Authority to replace rather than renovate the Terminal C south concourse. The revenue bonds currently being employed to finance airport improvements are payable solely from RDU revenues and are not backed by the taxpayers.

The Authority takes great pride in its good credit and its duty to continue operating RDU without burden on the taxpayers of Wake and Durham Counties. The only tax funds the Authority receives are $12,500 per year from each of its four owning governmental units — the Cities of Durham and Raleigh and the Counties of Durham and Wake. With budgeted operating revenues of over $71 million for the fiscal year that began April 1, 2005, that total of $50,000 is a very small portion indeed. On March 30th, the final payment was made on the $50 million in general obligation bonds to finance construction of RDU's primary runway. The Authority's pledge that the taxpayers would not be called upon to pay any of that debt thus was fulfilled.

RDU is committed to maintaining both a competitive environment and a low cost of airline operations. The way we look at it is without airlines and flights, there would be no service for our customers and thus no need for an airport. Conversely, without our customers, the airlines wouldn't exist. As we work towards these goals, we thank you all for your support!

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