Richmond International Airport

[I miss RVA]

29 minutes ago, eandslee said:

I found this, but the grant amount doesn’t match. Perhaps, this was from a previous grant award that helped pay for the new customs area (which we know is almost complete).  Otherwise, it may be to pay for 21 new jet bridges, but that’s just a guess:

 

Hmmm... this feels older. The loading bridge replacement I think has taken place already (or - minimally - the announcement of replacing the loading bridges has taken place some time ago. I remember it, vaguely). Is there any indication anywhere of a date, either of the announcement or when it was published or the date of the federal grant?

Edited February 16 by I miss RVA

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Hmmm... this feels older. The loading bridge replacement I think has taken place already (or - minimally - the announcement of replacing the loading bridges has taken place some time ago. I remember it, vaguely). Is there any indication anywhere of a date, either of the announcement or when it was published or the date of the federal grant?

You’re right, but this is the page where I got it from (I think there’s a link in there somewhere).  Someone posted this on X yesterday as if it was new, but it didn’t look like any of the updates were made to include this lastest grant award. Check it out for yourself:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-1-billion-grants-bipartisan

[I miss RVA]

On 2/16/2024 at 5:35 PM, eandslee said:

You’re right, but this is the page where I got it from (I think there’s a link in there somewhere).  Someone posted this on X yesterday as if it was new, but it didn’t look like any of the updates were made to include this lastest grant award. Check it out for yourself:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-1-billion-grants-bipartisan

This is a REAL head scratcher. I honestly am flummoxed about WHAT this money is going toward. $6.8 million is too small an amount to think about adding any gates or concourse expansion. And the federal inspection facility has already been fully funded. Man - would love to know.

[blopp1234]

Some good news today. Breeze has extended its schedule through January 2025 and it appears that the RIC-PHX route will not be scrapped and will return for winter 2024-2025.
 

Glad to see this route isn’t going away and will be one of three routes Breeze offers out of Phoenix. 

[Niccckk]

1 hour ago, blopp1234 said:

Some good news today. Breeze has extended its schedule through January 2025 and it appears that the RIC-PHX route will not be scrapped and will return for winter 2024-2025.
 

Glad to see this route isn’t going away and will be one of three routes Breeze offers out of Phoenix. 

Looks like it'll probably be a seasonal route, where it operates all year besides during the summer time (which seems kind of odd, you'd think it'd be a spring-summer route, and it goes away for the winter, but I'm not complaining haha

[eandslee]

On 2/16/2024 at 3:16 PM, I miss RVA said:

Hmmm... this feels older. The loading bridge replacement I think has taken place already (or - minimally - the announcement of replacing the loading bridges has taken place some time ago. I remember it, vaguely). Is there any indication anywhere of a date, either of the announcement or when it was published or the date of the federal grant?

I reached out to the airport and found out what the money from this grant is going toward. Here is what the airport told me:

“[The] BIL funding which will be combined with other funding streams to construct facilities identified in our ACIP, such as parking apron rehab, the TWY E & C intersection projects, and a new ARFF station (fire station).”

So, the funding will go toward a number of projects to improve safety (ie - TWY E & C) and to pave the way for future projects. Moving the ARFF (fire station) allows for a more modern facility, but if you look at where it is and where it’s going in the master plan, it actually helps clear the way for a new parallel runway…whenever the need for it to be built is warranted.

[BigBobbyG]

17 hours ago, Niccckk said:

Looks like it'll probably be a seasonal route, where it operates all year besides during the summer time (which seems kind of odd, you'd think it'd be a spring-summer route, and it goes away for the winter, but I'm not complaining haha

So to be clear we shouldn't expect this route for June? I see that there are bookings till the end of May but just expected that was because they didn't schedule that far out. That's a shame I need to get to Phoenix in mid June and was hoping to use them.

[eandslee]

38 minutes ago, BigBobbyG said:

So to be clear we shouldn't expect this route for June? I see that there are bookings till the end of May but just expected that was because they didn't schedule that far out. That's a shame I need to get to Phoenix in mid June and was hoping to use them.

Yeah, this makes no sense whatsoever. Of all the seasons to end a service, you normally don’t end a seasonal service in the summer, especially to a place like Phoenix. 

[Brent114]

I would think that people travel to Phoenix in the cooler months.   The consistent 115 degree days isn’t very appealing for East Coast folk.   Does the city empty out in the summer months? Business travel may slow over the summer (like with NYC and pretty much every big city). 
 

I’m not sure what season is best for the Gand Canyon.  Maybe it isn’t as hot there in the summer, but even there I think spring and fall would be peak season. 

Edited February 26 by Brent114

[I miss RVA]

31 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

I would think that people travel to Phoenix in the cooler months.   The consistent 115 degree days isn’t very appealing for East Coast folk. 

Back in the day, I've been on a few business trips to Phoenix, and every time it was during the winter. I recall one year playing golf with my colleagues in 75-degree weather while there was a foot of snow on the ground here in Chicago. 

[Flood Zone]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

I recall one year playing golf with my colleagues in 75-degree weather

One of my good friends from college was from Phoenix. I was his best man. Back in our college days, Phoenix area municipal golf courses sold an all-you-can-play pass that was ridiculously cheap - like $30 - for the summer months. I guess they sold this on the reasoning that they could capture some "paid-but-unused" gain from people who saw a deal that was too good to be true but ultimately were like "forget this, it's too hot."

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, Flood Zone said:

One of my good friends from college was from Phoenix. I was his best man. Back in our college days, Phoenix area municipal golf courses sold an all-you-can-play pass that was ridiculously cheap - like $30 - for the summer months. I guess they sold this on the reasoning that they could capture some "paid-but-unused" gain from people who saw a deal that was too good to be true but ultimately were like "forget this, it's too hot."

Yeah - I bet the golf courses there are pretty empty in the summer. No way in you-know-where would I be out of a golf course in 115-degree heat, even a "dry" heat. Friends, 115 degrees is 115 degrees no matter how you slice it.

[Merrittk92]

On my way to LAS on Breeze flt 116. Plane is sold out, as is my return flight Friday on United from Denver.

 

[eandslee]

25 minutes ago, Merrittk92 said:

On my way to LAS on Breeze flt 116. Plane is sold out, as is my return flight Friday on United from Denver.

 

Sweet!  Let us know how it goes!

[Niccckk]

Took a look at Breeze's schedule, it appears Providence is coming back in a couple of days as an unconventional "BreezeThru" (RIC-TPA-PVD), and then in October it will come back non-stop as a seasonal route it appears.

Edited February 28 by Niccckk

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, Niccckk said:

Took a look at Breeze's schedule, it appears Providence is coming back in a couple of days as an unconventional "BreezeThru" (RIC-TPA-PVD), and then in October it will come back non-stop as a seasonal route it appears.

 

SWEET!!! Good news indeed!

[eandslee]

Great news!  Thanks @Niccckk!

On a separate note, I’ve been in contact with RIC regarding the January stats. They have not been posted yet due to a technical migration error.  Don’t think they have the bugs worked out. Kinda wish they’d just send me the stats via messenger, but maybe they’ll have the stats posted soon. Will provide an update when I get it. 

[eandslee]

Airport stats are finally posted. As expected for January, the passenger counts do not exceed 400K (not even close), but there was still a 5.89% increase over January 2023. I’ll take it. Expect February to look similar or slightly worse as history tells us February is the slowest month for passengers at RIC each year. Interestingly, cargo continues to impresses with a whopping 18.43% growth!
 

Edited February 28 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

Airport stats are finally posted. As expected for January, the passenger counts do not exceed 400K (not even close), but there was still a 5.89% increase over January 2023. I’ll take it. Expect February to look similar or slightly worse as history tells us February is the slowest month for passengers at RIC each year. Interestingly, cargo continues to impresses with a whopping 18.43% growth!
 

Thanks, @eandslee for pushing hard to get these figures.  Since you had to actually chase the data down and put in the extra work to get it, methinks you have more than earned your first lovely, freshly polished piece of RVA/UP Silver Hardware for 2024. Please let Mrs. Eandslee know so she'll be on the lookout for the shipping crate which should arrive at some point soon.

Okay - re: the airport:

1.) RIC vs ORF:  Do we have a line on how ORF did in January? I'm looking at their website and the link for "January" data (under 2024) is greyed out. Doesn't look like they've posted anything yet.

2.) RIC/January: Man... 5.89% over January 2023 ... I'm presuming the 323K is a record for the month January, no? I've got mixed feelings though -- I was afraid we'd backslide way back into single-digit year-over-year growth after last year's record-setting performance. I'm happy to see that we DID still grow the passenger total last month, but I have to admit I was hoping for something a bit more robust and closer to double-digit growth. I guess those kinds of explosive growth rates are possible only for the BNAs and RDUs of the world.  

3.) RIC/2024: STILL - one small consolation prize: even at the paltry rate of 5.89% - so long as we don't backslide any LOWER than that -- if we can maintain minimally this rate of growth for full year 2024, we'll crack 5 million. Just based on the percentage - we're currently on pace for 5,036,011 passengers for FY 2024. 

So... a mixed bag. Not the best start... and not the start I was hoping for, but a good enough start to potentially get us over the 5 million passenger barrier if we can maintain (and preferably bump up) this rate of growth.

Edited February 28 by I miss RVA

[Niccckk]

3 hours ago, eandslee said:

Interestingly, cargo continues to impresses with a whopping 18.43% growth!

This is definitely fueled by Amazon's larger expansion out of here. We've seen them add San Bernadino & Willmington (Ohio) flights almost daily now out of here, along with the already existing Cincinatti & Fort Worth flights. They also operate through Lakeland & San Juan out of here but those appear to be seasonal.  Plus some Amazon flights are on 767s now, and I've seen quite a few MD-11Fs (with UPS) at RIC as well. Cargo will continue to grow a lot here with the LEGO manufacturing facility, and the planned technology park in Western Chesterfield likely fueling more cargo demand.

Edited February 28 by Niccckk

[Flood Zone]

Without additional data/information, I'm not sure we can say much about 5.89% growth for January 2024 over January 2023, or whether it's disappointing. For one thing, growth from early months 2022 to early months 2023 would intuitively look more robust because the former time period was not quite out of the COVID lag (Delta or Omicron or whatever variant spike, etc.). Second, a 31-day sample is by nature a small sample. On January 12 of this year, over 2,000 flights were canceled that day alone due to bad weather. I don't know if January 2023 had an equivalent day; maybe it did, but I don't know that it did.

I'd say we need a quarterly sample in order to start making firmer statements.  

Edited February 28 by Flood Zone

[Merrittk92]

ORF had a 10% increase over Jan 2023. As for RIC’s lower growth percentage for that month..big deal! Growth is GROWTH! 

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, Merrittk92 said:

ORF had a 10% increase over Jan 2023. As for RIC’s lower growth percentage for that month..big deal! Growth is GROWTH! 

We have ORF data? I didn't see anything posted on their website.

[Merrittk92]

33 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

We have ORF data? I didn't see anything posted on their website.

303,000 10.7% increase from 23 according to their posts,

[eandslee]

Frequency increase coming on Spirit Airlines to MCO: