[Richmond International Airport]

Burt,

USAir and United codeshare, in other words, they are "partners" and share flights. This can be very confusing for the flying public, who often show up for a USAir flight at United or vice versa. In other words, what you saw on the screen was United's number for that flight, as well as, USAir's, for the same flight. Hope this explanation didn't add to the confusion.

[Richmond International Airport]

A couple of follow ups:

• On the web site, I do plan to add more images of the airport. While we would focus on the new structure, we have seen some historic images worthy of inclusion as well - once we have permission to use them. Some will appear in a media section of the site. The web cam suggestion is not likely to be adopted anytime soon due to concerns noted above and budget restrictions. We are also developing a mobile version so that the site has some usefulness to those using PDAs. It will include arrivals, departures, airline, parking, services (such as free WiFi) info, and airport contact links.
  
• Aggressively marketing the airport via the web site - the main thrust will remain as a public information portal, but we will continue to roll in additional features - and perhaps some occasional incentives - via this media. Again, take a moment to subscribe to the OnTime newsletter, it goes out to several thousand registered subscribers each month, and there is no charge.
  
• No need to apologize for anything.
  
• While there is still work to be done, the progress made at RIC has been accomplished only through the "all in" involvement of many others. Citing a few: the Greater Richmond Chamber, the Greater Richmond Partnership, our Air Service Task Force, Friends of RIC, Richmond Metro CVB, and many, many Federal, State, and local officials. We have worked on many projects, and I don't think many stones have been left unturned.
  
• Twinz - thank you for the kind remarks about your recent airport experience.
  
• Salt Lake City's DMA pop is about 2.7 million, about double RIC's 1.4 million.
  

I will pop in periodically, and again appreciate the interest in RIC expressed in this forum. Thanks, again.

flack4ric

I just wanted to comment on the pop figures you mentioned for Salt Lake City. I'm not sure what you're referring to when you mention the DMA population. However, according to the US Census, metro Richmond is larger than metro Salt Lake. Richmond is ranked 43rd with a pop. of 1,212,977 (2007) and Salt Lake is ranked 48th with a pop. of 1,099,973. Having been to Salt Lake a number of times, I can assure you the two areas are comparable and Salt Lake has nowhere near 2.7 million people. I don't know if the state of Utah has that many.

Regardless, I think the work you guys have done and continue to do is great. I meant what I said about my experience. I think RIC is one of the nicest airports in the country.

[Richmond International Airport]

Very well said, Burt. We definitely are grateful for the leaders we have at the airport and for the accomplishments they have made; for rising the airport out from the dust! I think that the resurrecting our once dead airport has generated a lot of interest from the citizens in and around Richmond - a very good thing! People are beginning to take notice, are beginning to use the airport more often, and most of all, feel proud of such a facility! I still think there is some work to be done on getting the word out about the airport, but it will happen!

I am reminded of another question regarding the airport we have had in the past that perhaps flack4ric could answer for us. The question relates to our current runways. Are there any plans for either extending one of the runways or even building another (parallel) runway even in the distant future? If so, is the layout of our runways and land we own such that a parallel runway would be out of the question? If not, where might one be built? We have debated this question a whole lot on this forum (it's probably more for fun than practicality at this point, but I thought it might be interesting to get a viewpoint from someone at RIC).

[Richmond International Airport]

This is my first post on your forum but, having recently flown through RIC, I just wanted to congratulate you guys on a beautiful airport. I've been there before and I have to say the new terminal is a vast improvement and is truly world class. I also think the new website is great; professional and easy to navigate.

I also would like to echo sentiments expressed by Burt and Eandslee. I didn't know how to highlight your quotes but I agree with both. I don't think RIC needs to necessarily focus on being a hub. The current economic climate is hurting hubs such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Memphis, etc. However, metro Richmond is large enough to be a focus city and it does seem that civic leaders need to grow in their thinking just as the city is growing. Salt Lake City is just one example of a city that is the same size as Richmond, yet has managed to carve out and support a facility that larger cities envy. I agree with Micomiles that a hub can actually hurt in some ways because the dominant airline discourages competition. However, by aggressively marketing RIC as an attractive alternative airport to the chaos of Dulles, for example, RIC could see an even greater increase in passenger numbers. It wasn't that long ago that RIC only dreamed of having 3 million passengers a year.

I think the fact that airlines continue to add flights in RIC, while they are dramatically cutting service in other cities, speaks volumes about the potential of this market. As Burt said, this is not the time to be complacent and go with the flow. Sorry if this was too long.