Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WUNC End of Year - Make your tax-deductible gift!

Gov. Perdue Takes Inaugural Non-stop San Francisco Flight From RDU

A brand new business-friendly route to the west has taken flight from North Carolina.

Announcement: Welcome to United Airlines' inaugural flight 194 with service to San Francisco.

Gurnal Scott: That announcement was a first for Raleigh-Durham Airport. It opens another door to the west coast for North Carolina travelers -- be it for business or pleasure. Gov. Bev Perdue was on that first flight, but not for fun. She wants to link our state's business to Silicon Valley

Gov. Bev Perdue: Every single discussion at some point in time talks about air access, they talk about the ability to get from here to there and to go somewhere globally because it's a global economy.

In fact the five-hour flight is timed to land at around 10 a.m Pacific in time for connections to the Far East. Perdue says that's invaluable to startups here at home.

Gov. Bev Perdue: This direct flight will allow those angels to get to us in one day or actually allow our people to get back to them.

Perdue's trip includes meetings with Silicon Valley companies through the end of the week.

Gurnal Scott joined North Carolina Public Radio in March 2012 after several stops in radio and television. After graduating from the College of Charleston in his South Carolina hometown, he began his career in radio there. He started as a sports reporter at News/Talk Radio WTMA and won five Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 1997, Gurnal moved on to television as general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for WCSC-TV in Charleston. He anchored the market's top-rated weekend newscasts until leaving Charleston for Memphis, TN in 2002. Gurnal worked at WPTY-TV for two years before returning to his roots in radio. He joined the staff of Memphis' NewsRadio 600 WREC in 2004 eventually rising to News Director. In 2006, Raleigh news radio station WPTF came calling and he became the station's chief correspondent. Gurnal’s reporting has been honored by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association, the North Carolina Associated Press, and the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas.
More Stories