MicoMiles

Confirmation : JetBlue will not be serving Newport News/Williamsburg. http://www.dailypress.com/news/traffic/dp-nws-airlines-20120202,0,6661661.story

JetBlue possibly coming to Newport News/Williamsburg...? If this is the case, I would be very surprised since the proximity to RIC is quite close. http://articles.dailypress.com/2012-01-31/news/dp-nws-airline-20120131_1_newport-news-airport-ken-spirito-new-airline

RIC is still not off the "chopping block"! Remember that Southwest currently offers service to 2 Virginia cities : Norfolk (ORF) and Chantilly (IAD - Dulles). I'm still with USAirways and I hear all kinds of rumors from my fellow pilots and ground support; both USAirways and others..... I'm not saying what I hear. SWA Mgmt. will look at ALL routes AirTran currently services and discontinue any repetitive service from both airlines and eliminate "under performing" cities. Since I no longer live in Richmond since my transfer, I no longer keep up to date with how things are going with RIC. If AirTran is not doing well in RIC, RIC Officials should better be concerned. The proximity of Dulles and Norfolk will also weigh in on the decision on whether or not RIC becomes a Southwest station. Both SWA stations cater to the Military/Gov't sectors.... As far as RIC being the "hub" for all of Virginia..... I doubt that will ever happen. There's a reason why Southwest hasn't offered service in RIC to this day.

Burt - Basically, JetBlue wants RIC to purchase unsold seats to JFK on a daily basis to make the route profitable. Subsidies, IMO, hurt other carriers serving Richmond. Southwest provides/will provide service to Panama City, FL but is being subsidize by a local company (St. Joe's)

Burt - ORF's passenger counts may not be overwhelmingly higher than RIC's but with only 6 airlines serving the Hampton Roads region it continues to be higher than RIC........ and you have to wonder why RIC is not in the lead with passenger counts, especially since RIC has 3 more airlines serving our region (JetBlue, AirTran and Air Jazz). IMO, I really don't see JetBlue staying in RIC especially since they will discontinue service to their "MAIN" hub, JFK. Southwest will eventually serve RIC once the merger with AirTran is complete though I don't think we will see immediate west coast service during the initial startup phase. I expect SW to serve (my guesses) the following cities from RIC : BWI, PHL, ATL, BNA, MDW.

Burt, I highly doubt that RIC folks know what the decisions are made by Southwest Management. I believe Southwest will fly to and from RIC but don't expect any flights to the west coast anytime soon. As far as approval, I don't expect to see any Southwest flights into RIC until middle to late 2011. There are a lot of routes that need to be worked and repositioning of equipment. You also have to take into account what Southwest will do with Norfolk and Newport News/Williamsburg airports. Southwest flies to Baltimore, Chicago, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas and Nashville out of Norfolk. Airtran flies to Atlanta, Orlando and Boston for NN/Williamsburg. IMO, NN/Williamsburg will be consolidated to Norfolk. Expect USAirways (I fly for this company) and Delta to heavily discount prices on competing routes.

How is AirTran doing in RIC? Southwest to buy AirTran : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39377662/ns/business-us_business/ RIC may finally see Southwest once the merger is completed. Like with all mergers, all AirTran cities will be reviewed. How are the AirTran passenger numbers at RIC?

Sorry to be pessimistic, but it seems like JetBlue is on "life support" @ RIC Take out the main hub (JFK) and everything else will eventually follow!

Southwest flys past RIC again! Headed to Charleston and Greenville/Spartanburg, SC http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-swcity_12bus.ART.State.Edition1.3dd7256.html "Southwest Airlines Co. plans to launch service next year to two South Carolina airports, Charleston and Greenville-Spartanburg, the Dallas-based carrier said Tuesday."

Just heard that Frontier Airlines will start flying out of Newport News/Williamsburg (PHF) with n/s service to Denver.

Whats going on at the airport? I noticed construction going on next to the long-term parking garages. Anyone notice the Antonov-124 at the cargo apron last week?

Southwest New City : Panama City, Florida http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Southwest-Ai...ml?x=0&.v=1 There is a good military base (AF/Navy) population around Panama City..... Servicing cities have yet to be announced. RIC will have to remain on the waiting list.......again! Honestly, I believe SWA service at ORF, RDU and IAD greatly reduces the chances RIC will land Southwest.

This is what happens when 2 large airlines merge......... Move equipment to cities where it is needed (in the case of RIC....IMO) and eliminate similar/overlapping DL/NWA flight schedules. Get ready to change planes in Detroit, which I think is one of the nicest airports in the country! Its one of my top 20 airports on my preferred line bid list.

ORF is capable of handling heavy equipment. I've seen 747's, MD-11's, 767's, A300's, etc... I heard that ORF will see A300's when FedEx retires their fleet of 727's.

eandslee - I like how you are optimistic about west coast flights out of RIC..... But unfortunately there probably isn't enough O/D traffic out of RIC to warrant airlines to offer direct flights to the west coast cities. Believe me when I say that all the airlines serving RIC know where people are flying to. When there is consistent demand for a particular city/cities, airlines will respond depending on the availability of equipment & scheduling. Otherwise, you're going to fly to a hub for a connection.