Richmond International Airport

[burt]

I'll see what I can dig up... though to be fair I did find this image under Ryan's renderings gallery.

OT, but did you get permission, or have you purloined Cadeho's avatar?

[burt]

Eric, accompaning a story in today's RTD by Chip about flight delays is a reprint of the slide show and articles chronicalling construction at RIC. I know you've read them all, but I found them fun to review.

[weill]

Yeah, i noticed that story as a headline at the store here in Roanoke, decided not to get it though.

[wrldcoupe4]

Delta adds Richmond to JFK flights

Delta said it would start the flights Sept. 5 on 37-seat turboprop airplanes as a way for more customers to use its JFK hub to catch flights to Europe and Florida.

The announcement comes weeks before JetBlue Airways Corp. starts four flights a day to JFK from Richmond on March 31. Unlike Delta, JetBlue is touting mid-sized, 100-seat jets with leather seats and satellite TV.

It is adding two daily roundtrip flights from Richmond....

[burt]

Delta adds Richmond to JFK flights

It is adding two daily roundtrip flights from Richmond....

How insane is it to have to fly to JFK in order to get to Florida?!!!

If it remains necessary to change anywhere, better it be in Atlanta - especially if your airline of choice is Delta.

Aren't there direct flights now from RIC to Orlando, Miami and Ft. Myers?

Comments please, Eric.

[Merrittk92]

How insane is it to have to fly to JFK in order to get to Florida?!!!

If it remains necessary to change anywhere, better it be in Atlanta - especially if your airline of choice is Delta.

Aren't there direct flights now from RIC to Orlando, Miami and Ft. Myers?

Comments please, Eric.

They also added another nonstop from ORF starting in July. I think they were watching the numbers that AirTran has been posting out of PHF (on their N.Y. route) and combined those with the projected numbers that Jet Blue has for Richmond. The New York market is huge and Delta is fighting for it's share of the pie.

[Merrittk92]

So I was adding my reply when the *Reload* prompt appeared. Well, I did what I was told but the *Reload* prompt kept appearing. I thought I was simply trying to confirm my post. little did I know that I was posting the same text "Umpteen" times. Moderator please cleanup my mess, and in doing so make me look like less of a JERK!

Edited March 8, 2006 by Merrittk92

[rusthebuss]

So I was adding my reply when the *Reload* prompt appeared. Well, I did what I was told but the *Reload* prompt kept appearing. I thought I was simply trying to confirm my post. little did I know that I was posting the same text "Umpteen" times. Moderator please cleanup my mess, and in doing so make me look like less of a JERK!

[urbanvb]

Yeah, those early morning postings can sometimes do that . Cleaned up things a bit for you.

[wrldcoupe4]

They also added another nonstop from ORF starting in July. I think they were watching the numbers that AirTran has been posting out of PHF (on their N.Y. route) and combined those with the projected numbers that Jet Blue has for Richmond. The New York market is huge and Delta is fighting for it's share of the pie.

I can't believe Delta will be using dinky prop planes though, especially since Jet Blue will be using 100-seat jets with satellite tv and all.....I guess it isn't a very long flight though...

It's pretty cool that Richmond has just gone from 0 JFK flights to 4 daily roundtrip flight to 6 daily roundtrip flights in just a few short months!

[eandslee]

I can't believe Delta will be using dinky prop planes though, especially since Jet Blue will be using 100-seat jets with satellite tv and all.....I guess it isn't a very long flight though...

It's pretty cool that Richmond has just gone from 0 JFK flights to 4 daily roundtrip flight to 6 daily roundtrip flights in just a few short months!

Yeah, the turboprops are a really bad choice for Delta. I'll be very surprised if it is successful at all. No one wants to fly in a plane and have to wear ear plugs at the same time unless the tickets are dirt cheap. From what I'm gathering the tickets Delta will offer will probably only match those of JetBlue. I do like the competition though...nothing but good news for Richmond International and their enplane and deplane stats. Not to mention, the better deals for folks flying in and out of Richmond! Richmond has been needing this for a very, VERY long time. I just hope it blossems into something even greater (in my own world, I'd like to see Richmond land a hub of some sort...but I'm just dreaming....).

Edited March 9, 2006 by eandslee

[eandslee]

How insane is it to have to fly to JFK in order to get to Florida?!!!

If it remains necessary to change anywhere, better it be in Atlanta - especially if your airline of choice is Delta.

Aren't there direct flights now from RIC to Orlando, Miami and Ft. Myers?

Comments please, Eric.

As a matter of fact, Richmond does have direct flights to some Florida destinations. Check out this link to see where you can catch a direct flight to Florida from Richmond.

RIC Route Map

Looks like some of the Florida destinations are only once or so a week, but at least you can get there (I think only Ft. Myers is like that, if I'm not mistaken). Most of the Florida destinations were just added within the last year, which is a HUGE improvement!!! Florida, I believe is a popular destination for Richmonders and I only see the Florida market growing in the upcoming years...that is if the Richmond enplaners actually use the Florida service that exists.

[wrldcoupe4]

I know my dad just flew down to Florida this past week from RIC....

[wrldcoupe4]

Delta and JetBlue moves may mean international connections will be easier

With low-cost flights to and from JFK, this should boost Richmond's ability to increase traffic for international passengers.

an excerpt:

........Though the airport has no nonstop international service, more than 145,000 travelers -- or about one in 20 of all passengers here last year -- flew to or from a foreign destination.

"Certainly any additional service we can add is important to our region," said James Dunn, president of the Greater Richmond Chamber.

Though it's too soon to say how the JFK moves will play out, Dunn said the increased competition promises to help leisure and business travelers alike.

The airport serves six Fortune 500-sized companies -- which will grow to eight this year with the addition of Genworth Financial and Meadwestvaco Corp. Five other area companies are on Fortune's list of 1,000 largest companies, ranked by annual revenue...........

[eandslee]

Delta and JetBlue moves may mean international connections will be easier

With low-cost flights to and from JFK, this should boost Richmond's ability to increase traffic for international passengers.

an excerpt:

I'm very late responding to this (I did read it when it first came out), but I think this is a very good thing for travelers flying in and out of Richmond. I've always wondered why Richmond International Airport was called "international" when there are no international flights that fly in or out of the airport. Anyway, this article, at least, helps justify the "international" name a bit more. It used to be that you could catch a flight from Richmond to some place like Puerto Rico or somewhere else in the Carribean (I can't remember the exact place), but for some reason they stopped the flights. It would be cool if one day we could get a flight or two from Richmond to somewhere in Europe real soon. Oh! It just hit me...perhaps there are flights in and out of Canada that fly to Richmond! That's sort of..."international". OK, now I'm just rambling....

[burt]

Eric, I think there are no longer any flights direct to Canada since Air Ontario pulled out or went bankrupt.

There used to be very popular charter flights to The Bahamas about 3 times a week, but for some reason they ended. There still may be charters to and from Cancun, Mexico, but I'm not sure about that.

Norfolk is trying to get direct weekly flights from an airport in Kent (south of London) to co-incide with Virginia's 2007 celebration. RIC may be bidding for this business as well.

[wrldcoupe4]

Passenger figures continue to climb at RIC this year!

For January, passenger totals increased 8.54% from a year ago, to 212,379. The Times-Dispatch has also reported that passenger counts in February 2006 were up 10% from a year ago. That should equate to over 206,500 passengers for February, up from 187,792 a year ago.

So through February 2006, nearly 420,000 passengers have flown in and out of RIC.

Not bad though there is concern from the airport commission that Airtran is not being supported as much as they had hoped by the business community. Airtran says they certainly aren't thinking about leaving Richmond, but their passengers growth has been slower than expected, even though their arrival was a boon to Richmond's airport.

I'm sure the passenger numbers will jump even higher once Jet Blue's arrival is fully felt.

[wrldcoupe4]

Well, today is JetBlue's first day flying out of Richmond! let's see if those passenger numbers jump.

Flights to NYC are from $59, while flights to Boston, starting next week, are $69.

[burt]

Well, today is JetBlue's first day flying out of Richmond! let's see if those passenger numbers jump.

Flights to NYC are from $59, while flights to Boston, starting next week, are $69.

My round trip Jet Blue fare JFK/RIC/JFK in mid May is $117.10, including taxes and fees. I'm looking forward to the nice leather seats and TV.

[Cadeho]

I have only been in the air once... with Rob Roberts... I guess if I can do a helicopter... I can do a plane...

When hurricane season comes, we're going to need those cheap flights.

[wrldcoupe4]

Burt that's not bad at all... how significant is the price difference?

[burt]

Burt that's not bad at all... how significant is the price difference?

I can't give you exact figures, but you can be sure only Chinatown Bus and Greyhound would be cheaper. I know Amtrak would be higher as well as any other airlines flying out of NYC's three airports.

[wrldcoupe4]

haha nice to see Delta changing their tune and stepping up to the plate better

Delta Moves Up New JFK Flights to July

The original launch date was set for September 5. Now Delta is bumping it up to July 5th. They'll also be using 50 seat regional jets for the two daily roundtrip flights, instead of the prop planes that were planned originally.

It will also be adding a 10th daily round-trip flight to Atlanta this summer.

some excerpts:

"Part of it was the comments about turboprops," he said. "That's a valid response. Since Richmond is such a good market, we wanted to upgrade service."

Another factor was the competitive response from JetBlue Airways, he said. JetBlue began flying between Richmond and New York's JFK on March 31....

Delta's Cortelyou stressed the importance of the Richmond market, where it was tied with US Airways as the market leader in February. Both had 27.8 percent of the passenger load.

"Richmond has been a great market for Delta," he said, noting the tie spans most of Delta's 75 years in business. "We've seen incredible demand there."

Richmond International Airport spokesman Troy Bell called it "a wise move by Delta to upgrade the equipment."

[eandslee]

This was a very wise move for Delta. There was no way they were going to be able to compete with Turboprops anyway. I'm glad to see that they made the change. Oh boy...here comes the competition and price reductions!!! Something that is very good news for Richmond passengers.

[burt]

Welcome back, Eric. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.

I'm looking forward to flying Jet Blue into Richmond on May 8th and looking around at the construction progress.