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Delta Air Lines will begin flying nonstop between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Ft. Myers, Florida, this fall, reviving a route the airline briefly flew before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Delta will fly daily to Southwest Florida International Airport starting Nov. 21. The service will be seasonal, scheduled to end April 11, 2027.
Delta will compete with Breeze Airways, which has been flying between RDU and Ft. Myers since November 2023. Delta will use CRJ-900 regional jets, while Breeze uses larger Airbus 220-300s.
With the addition of Ft. Myers, Delta now flies nonstop between the Triangle and five Florida cities, including Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando and Tampa.
Florida is the most competitive market for air travel from the Triangle, with five airlines offering nonstop flights to more than a dozen cities.
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Delta’s previous Ft. Myers service was limited to the holidays starting Dec. 21, 2019. Anemic demand for air travel during the pandemic meant the carrier didn’t bring it back the following year, according to Amy Martin, Delta’s vice president for network planning.
That has changed. Strong demand for flights to Florida, particularly in colder months, prompted Delta to restore the route on a seasonal basis, Martin said.
Delta is the busiest of the 19 airlines doing business at RDU. Through June, the airline handled about 26% of all passengers passing through the airport this year.
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This story was originally published August 4, 2026 at 2:47 PM.