Richmond International Airport

[I miss RVA]

9 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Already seeing some of the effects of the Spirit route already!  Great!  Competition usually favors the consumer! 

Nice!!! Makes sense that Breeze is already going to step up its game in response. After all, Spirit's trying to make inroads on Breeze's UNOFFICIAL "mini hub" - the boys at Breeze can't have that now!  And frankly, I'm in favor of ANYTHING that brings MORE Breeze flights to/from RIC.

What's cool is that given we were talking about total flights per day - so that's going to give us 8 additional flights per week (7 from Spirit, 1 more from Breeze) which averages out to just slightly more than an additional flight per day once all service is underway. 

So a follow-up;

Spirit now offers three destinations - Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Vegas. Do we know the frequency of these flights? I wonder if there's any chance Spirit might start beefing up the number of flights/destinations or both flying out of RIC?

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

Spirit now offers three destinations - Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Vegas. Do we know the frequency of these flights? I wonder if there's any chance Spirit might start beefing up the number of flights/destinations or both flying out of RIC?

Spirit flies all routes out of RIC daily (FLL, MCO and soon LAS).  Not sure what Spirit will do, but adding more destinations would be wonderful.  I'd  rather see more destinations than frequency to the same destinations at this point (regarding  Spirit Airlines).  JetBlue also serves FLL and MCO (just like Spirit).

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, eandslee said:

Spirit flies all routes out of RIC daily (FLL, MCO and soon LAS).  Not sure what Spirit will do, but adding more destinations would be wonderful.  I'd  rather see more destinations than frequency to the same destinations at this point (regarding  Spirit Airlines).  JetBlue also serves FLL and MCO (just like Spirit).

I'd love to see Spirit add destinations that Breeze and Jet Blue don't offer. Looks like Spirit goes all over heck and creation. Maybe they could start adding destinations like Dallas, Houston, Austin (among many others), and maybe pick up a little bit of the international fare that will certainly be on the table when the international portion of RIC opens for business. Spirit seems to do really brisk business in this part of the world - getting them to "carbon copy" what Breeze is doing (only to completely different destinations) would be a HUGE plus for us.

And dang it, I STILL want us to pull Frontier into the fold here. Get ALL of these bad boys in here flying to the widest possible variety of destinations with JUSSSSSSSSSST enough overlap here and there to make for some really competitive pricing on small handful of routes. Get Spirit in here to fly where Breeze isn't. And get Frontier in here to fly where Breeze & Spirit aren't. Not only will that help tremendously in terms of a wider selection of direct destinations out of RIC - but it could also potentially amp up flight frequency to certain locales where there IS a bit of overlap.

Let's not play around - let's get all the players ponied up at the table and really make this airport take off. We could hit that magic 6 million annual passenger number (and magical 100 flights per day) a lot sooner if we get everyone flying here. The 100 flights per day -- I think -- will be the easier number to reach. Prior to Spirit's  LAS announcement (plus the additional flight Breeze is adding) we were at 71 flights per day. Okay - that puts us now at 72 - with more service on the way later this year - plus international service when the terminal is ready. Makes me wonder if we might not be approaching 80 FPD by the end of the year at the rate we're going!

Edited March 16, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Niccckk]

Uhm... WOW. Breeze's on time performance here has not been steller at all lately... last week RIC-SFO was like 6 hours late, making the return 6 hours late, and the next flight RIC - CHS arrive at CHS at like 2am?? This is horrible for Breeze and has happened AGAIN today with the RIC - SFO route... this time, the flight had problems at CHS,  and is JUST NOW arriving 7 HOURS later... and the SFO should depart soon... arriving 7 hours late to SFO... I would normally not bring this up but this has been very consistent with Breeze flights recently. By looking at reviews, the main complaint about them and what is keeping people away from them is their on time performance... and I agree with them. Even for the luxury of nonstop, I wouldn't risk a cancellation or delay over a connection flight. They really need to fix this up.

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, Niccckk said:

Uhm... WOW. Breeze's on time performance here has not been steller at all lately... last week RIC-SFO was like 6 hours late, making the return 6 hours late, and the next flight RIC - CHS arrive at CHS at like 2am?? This is horrible for Breeze and has happened AGAIN today with the RIC - SFO route... this time, the flight had problems at CHS,  and is JUST NOW arriving 7 HOURS later... and the SFO should depart soon... arriving 7 hours late to SFO... I would normally not bring this up but this has been very consistent with Breeze flights recently. By looking at reviews, the main complaint about them and what is keeping people away from them is their on time performance... and I agree with them. Even for the luxury of nonstop, I wouldn't risk a cancellation or delay over a connection flight. They really need to fix this up.

I wholeheartedly agree!  They HAVE to fix this!

[blopp1234]

1 hour ago, Niccckk said:

Uhm... WOW. Breeze's on time performance here has not been steller at all lately... last week RIC-SFO was like 6 hours late, making the return 6 hours late, and the next flight RIC - CHS arrive at CHS at like 2am?? This is horrible for Breeze and has happened AGAIN today with the RIC - SFO route... this time, the flight had problems at CHS,  and is JUST NOW arriving 7 HOURS later... and the SFO should depart soon... arriving 7 hours late to SFO... I would normally not bring this up but this has been very consistent with Breeze flights recently. By looking at reviews, the main complaint about them and what is keeping people away from them is their on time performance... and I agree with them. Even for the luxury of nonstop, I wouldn't risk a cancellation or delay over a connection flight. They really need to fix this up.

From what I’ve heard the problems are largely coming from the A220. The e-190 and e-195s have been running well and reliably for Breeze, however because the A220 is a relatively new plane, it is still working out the kinks. I know Delta and JetBlue among other carriers have had problems with the a220. 
 

They do need to get this figured out though as it is seriously hurting their reputation.

[eandslee]

2 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

They do need to get this figured out though as it is seriously hurting their reputation.

…or they need to have GlobalX on speed dial and at the ready in case they become severely delayed without their help!

[I miss RVA]

On 3/17/2023 at 4:21 PM, blopp1234 said:

From what I’ve heard the problems are largely coming from the A220. The e-190 and e-195s have been running well and reliably for Breeze, however because the A220 is a relatively new plane, it is still working out the kinks. I know Delta and JetBlue among other carriers have had problems with the a220. 
 

They do need to get this figured out though as it is seriously hurting their reputation.

Wow - not a good look for Breeze, even though it's to be expected that the shakeout period of new equipment can potentially be rife with problems. Wow... Yeah, Breeze needs to step up their game and not fumble this. What starts out as a bad look can snowball and become VERY bad for business quicker than they might expect if they don't corral this problem NOW.

[Niccckk]

On 3/17/2023 at 7:28 PM, eandslee said:

…or they need to have GlobalX on speed dial and at the ready in case they become severely delayed without their help!

I 100% agree.  Hopefully once their A220 fleet grows, they can eventually use their E190/E195s as stand by aircraft along with GlobalX

[eandslee]

So, real quick - RIC stats came out today for February 2023 and the airport had the second best February on record!!  February 2023 saw 303,091 passengers (which is typically the slowest month of the year)!!  How’s that for a recovery?!  The record for February was back in 2020 when the airport saw 310,913 passengers.  Since the airport sees about 7-10K passengers a day on average, we were just about one day away from setting a new February record…just one day!!  This is great news for the airport! 

By comparison, ORF set a new record for February 2023 at 263,669 passengers. Happy for them, but ecstatic that RIC is seeing much more passenger traffic…by nearly 40K passengers!  Both airports are growing though and that’s good for VA as a whole. 
 

Freight was flat at about 10M pounds which was a tad less than February 2022.  This surprises me a little bit, but given Amazon’s performance lately, it kind of makes sense. 
 

Anyway, just had to share the good news about February’s passenger numbers. For March, I can tell RIC had a good month and the passenger numbers should reflect that when we get to see next month’s report. Can’t wait!

Edited March 29, 2023 by eandslee

[upzoningisgood]

If 2022 was a leap year like 2020, RIC might have set the record

By the way, Nashville to Richmond and Richmond to Nashville were both ~85% full, I'd say.

[eandslee]

Just now, upzoningisgood said:

If 2022 was a leap year like 2020, RIC might have set the record

I think you meant to say 2023, but you’re right (good point) - if 2023 were a 29-day February like 2020, then that means that the airport is on par with its best passenger traffic numbers ever right now. That’s exciting, but even better is the fact that new routes and service (to include a new airline - Sun Country) will be starting soon too!  This just means more passengers that will hopefully set new ridership numbers for the airport. It’s time to get back on that record-breaking trajectory we were on (for many many months in a row) prior to COVID!

[I miss RVA]

Can't wait to see the Breeze numbers for February.

[eandslee]

17 minutes ago, upzoningisgood said:

If 2022 was a leap year like 2020, RIC might have set the record

By the way, Nashville to Richmond and Richmond to Nashville were both ~85% full, I'd say.

That’s good to hear…on Allegiant.  Great report. It’s hard to track Allegiant’s passenger loads because of the way their website is set up, so this is a solid report. 85% full is considered a good passenger load.  However, would like to see (and prefer to see) these flights sold out.

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, eandslee said:

That’s good to hear…on Allegiant.  Great report. It’s hard to track Allegiant’s passenger loads because of the way their website is set up, so this is a solid report. 85% full is considered a good passenger load.  However, would like to see (and prefer to see) these flights sold out.

What birds are they flying on this route?

[eandslee]

3 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

What birds are they flying on this route?

Typically, I’ve seen Airbus 319s and A320s…average seating capacity is about 110-150 or so (depending on configuration).  

Edited March 29, 2023 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Typically, I’ve seen Airbus 319s and A320s…average seating capacity is about 110-150 or so (depending on configuration).  

Okay! Not bad at all.

[eandslee]

Breeze is about to make an announcement soon regarding new routes it is adding to its network.  Unfortunately, there is not likely to be any new routes to/from RIC this time go-round; however, I did get this information from Ishrion Aviation:

“RIC-BDL will increase from 2x to 5x weekly in September.

RIC to CVG, JAX, ISP, PVD will suspend in September, presumably seasonal.”

What I don’t know yet is if the increased frequency between RIC-BDL route this September also means an increase in frequency between RIC-PHX (since BDL is the origin of the flights to PHX…RIC serves as the Breeze Thru).

[I miss RVA]

9 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Breeze is about to make an announcement soon regarding new routes it is adding to its network.  Unfortunately, there is not likely to be any new routes to/from RIC this time go-round; however, I did get this information from Ishrion Aviation:

“RIC-BDL will increase from 2x to 5x weekly in September.

RIC to CVG, JAX, ISP, PVD will suspend in September, presumably seasonal.”

What I don’t know yet is if the increased frequency between RIC-BDL route this September also means an increase in frequency between RIC-PHX (since BDL is the origin of the flights to PHX…RIC serves as the Breeze Thru).

I'm waiting to start seeing RIC-to (destination of choice) become "2x daily" on at least a few routes. That would be a huge improvement in frequency, but I'm guessing we're quite a ways away yet from that level of service.

[Icetera]

Tentatively looking at flights and surprised to see RIC listed as the lowest fare out of a collection of airports from here to Philly (and hell no do I intend to spend that!).  I will be trying out Breeze for the first time to PHX this month.  The two flights a week is obnoxious but certainly the best deal.

[Niccckk]

On 3/31/2023 at 10:48 AM, I miss RVA said:

I'm waiting to start seeing RIC-to (destination of choice) become "2x daily" on at least a few routes. That would be a huge improvement in frequency, but I'm guessing we're quite a ways away yet from that level of service.

I think this might be possible sooner. I've overheard that some Breeze planes will be overnighting at MCO and JAX even though they are not bases... would be nice if this could maybe happen at RIC too?

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, Niccckk said:

I think this might be possible sooner. I've overheard that some Breeze planes will be overnighting at MCO and JAX even though they are not bases... would be nice if this could maybe happen at RIC too?

Absolutely would be fantastic.

Logistically, what's stopping them from doing so?  Presumption is there have to be accommodations not merely for the aircraft at the airport but also the crews. I've started wondering when RIC would finally bite the bullet and make a serious effort to recruit a brand-name hotelier and work with them to construct an on-site hotel connected to the terminal, as other (admittedly usually significantly larger) airports have done? Am thinking -- perhaps -- that might facilitate getting planes & crews overnighted at RIC more readily.

Would a hotelier require a certain minimum level of passenger traffic to even consider locating on-site? Does the fact that RIC is not a hub negatively impact the chances of that kind of development? I'm thinking a hotelier won't bite unless they can justify the cost based on the amount of people who go through the airport on a daily basis. Not saying a hotel would sit completely empty, but I'm taking it that few - if any - passengers have layovers in Richmond.

Edited April 9, 2023 by I miss RVA

[eandslee]

12 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Absolutely would be fantastic.

Logistically, what's stopping them from doing so?  Presumption is there have to be accommodations not merely for the aircraft at the airport but also the crews. I've started wondering when RIC would finally bite the bullet and make a serious effort to recruit a brand-name hotelier and work with them to construct an on-site hotel connected to the terminal, as other (admittedly usually significantly larger) airports have done? Am thinking -- perhaps -- that might facilitate getting planes & crews overnighted at RIC more readily.

Would a hotelier require a certain minimum level of passenger traffic to even consider locating on-site? Does the fact that RIC is not a hub negatively impact the chances of that kind of development? I'm thinking a hotelier won't bite unless they can justify the cost based on the amount of people who go through the airport on a daily basis. Not saying a hotel would sit completely empty, but I'm taking it that few - if any - passengers have layovers in Richmond.

ORF is about to build one. I would think that RIC would more than qualify. 

[I miss RVA]

54 minutes ago, eandslee said:

ORF is about to build one. I would think that RIC would more than qualify. 

Yep - I remember seeing it in their master plan. RIC needs to get on the stick and put some elbow grease into building one.

[eandslee]

Noticed stupidly low price on the RIC-LAS route on Spirit Airlines. Flights are going for $80 each way for a standard ticket ($66 each way if you are a club member)!  That’s $159.78 for a standard round trip ticket (not including the price of baggage)!  Still, that’s like crazy low!  Not seeing this advertised anywhere…nothing…and it shows. The load factors appear to be super low on any of these flights.  At that price, these flights should be PACKED!  But since no one knows about this deal, no one will book. Frustrating!