Submitted by Lisabeth Tunell

Triangle tourists and business travelers will gain a new connection to Europe and beyond next June (2nd) when Delta Air Lines launches nonstop service from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Paris.

Delta will fly between RDU and Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport with connecting flights t 169 airports around the world. "From de Gaulle, you can go anywhere in the world, especially the Mideast and Europe and south Asia," said John Lewis, president of Raleigh-based Travel Management Partners. Delta has already moved its domestic flights from Terminal 1 into RDU's new Terminal 2, which began operation last month. Delta is the second airline in a week to announce a Paris flight from North Carolina. US Airways plans a nonstop between Charlotte and de Gaulle, starting next spring and will operate daily from April through October. Delta, RDU's third busiest carrier after Southeast and American saw and increase in air travel here and abroad and was holding steady through the first nine months of the year.

RDU once had a flight to Paris (Orly) back in 1988 that was an unprofitable adventure for American Airlines and they stopped flying that route in 1994. Bob Cortelyou, a Delta senior-vice president said Delta expects its Paris flight to be more profitable because it will use a small jet (Boeing 757-200), carrying only 174 passengers, and will serve the busier Pairs hub, de Gaulle."This is a way to start the market, and then if we have some great success, we can look at a bigger aircraft," he said. 

Facts:

Departs RDU daily (except Monday and Thursday) at 6:20 p.m. and arrives in Paris at  CDG 8:35 a.m. the next day.

Departs CDG daily (except Wednesday and Saturday) at 10:30 a.m. and arrives RDU 2:15 p.m.

With connections via CDG to 16 airports: 109 in Europe, 28 Africa, 10 in the Mideast, 20 in the Far East and two in Polynesia.