United Airlines and Gov. Beverly Perdue made the announcement in an early afternoon news conference at RDU today.
United will begin offering daily nonstop service between Raleigh-Durham International Airport and San Francisco on Aug. 15. The outbound flights on a Boeing 737 will leave RDU at 7 a.m., arriving at San Francisco at 9:50 a.m. Pacific Time. The inbound flights depart San Francisco at 1 p.m. Pacific time and arrive at RDU at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
“Businesses, particularly the life sciences and technology sectors, have been very vocal about the importance of this flight to their ongoing success and ability to grow and compete,” RDU Director Michael Landguth said in a statement.
Obtaining more non-stop flights to the West Coast has long been a goal of many in the tech sector here in the Triangle as programs like Triangle Startup Factory attempt to build a bridge between early-stage companies and investors on the west coast.
Our Demo Day where 6-10 companies get the opportunity to pitch investors just got a huge boost by bringing the west coast investor to Durham in a much more expedient manner. We all will win with greater access.