FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 1999
Media Contact: Mike Blanton, Public Affairs Manager
Phone: (919) 840-2100, ext. 207 Pager: (919) 981-2135

RDU EXPECTS HEAVY TRAFFIC TODAY

RDU Airport, NC --- Nearly 3,000 athletes and coaches will arrive at Raleigh-Durham International Airport today as delegations representing 81 countries arrive in the Triangle for the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games. In addition to athlete arrivals, officials at RDU are also expecting heavy outbound traffic from fans that attended the U.S. Open Golf Championship in Pinehurst last week.

"We have planned for this for nearly a year and expect everything to run smoothly," said RDU Public Affairs Manager Mike Blanton. "Our best advice for air travelers today is to give yourself some extra time.".

Athletes arriving for the World Games on commercial flights will be bused from the terminals to the Airport Welcome Center, which is located in the Piedmont West hangar across from Observation Park near RDU's North Cargo area. Athletes will then move through the credentialing center and then out to buses for transportation to their respective host towns. Special Olympics delegations will continue arriving at RDU throughout this week with 25 expected tomorrow, five on Wednesday and 48 on Thursday.

On Friday, June 25, more than 2,000 Team U.S.A. athletes and coaches will arrive during the Cessna Citation Airlift. Nearly 300 private business jets donated from corporations from all over the country will land at RDU bringing participants to the games. Billed as the 'World's Largest Peacetime Airlift', this event is expected to help set a new single day air traffic record at the airport. The first Citations are expected to touch down around 8 a.m. Friday morning followed by a landing every two to three minutes for the remainder of the day.

RDU normally handles an average of 850 commercial and private take-offs and landings in a single day. More than 1,400 landings and take-offs are expected during the Citation Airlift this Friday.