In formal comments submitted yesterday, AOPA told the FAA that air traffic and passenger counts at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) no longer meet the threshold needed to qualify for Class B airspace. "In light of the shutdown of Midway Airlines in September and the general decline in air travel due to the economic recession, traffic counts at RDU have decreased dramatically, and it is unlikely that the airport will continue to meet the criteria necessary to establish Class B airspace," said AOPA. Despite airport management projections of future traffic demands, airspace reclassifications are predicated on current traffic counts and load factors, according to the association. At informal airspace meetings held in early December 2001, and in its formal comments, AOPA has joined local airport users in recommending that the FAA withdraw its Class B airspace proposal and conduct a complete reevaluation of need for an airspace reclassification at RDU.
02-1-003x
