Richmond International Airport

[I miss RVA]

25 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Frequency increase coming on Spirit Airlines to MCO:

 

OKAY THEN!!!!  

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!  EXACTLY the kind of news we've been waiting to hear.

[Niccckk]

44 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

OKAY THEN!!!!  

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!  EXACTLY the kind of news we've been waiting to hear.

FINALLY! MCO has been underserved the past few years ever since Southwest departed that route. I believe this matches jetBlues 2x daily MCO flights (A320 for one, and E190 for the other)  so I believe we're going to be at 4x daily now for MCO!

[blopp1234]

10 hours ago, Niccckk said:

FINALLY! MCO has been underserved the past few years ever since Southwest departed that route. I believe this matches jetBlues 2x daily MCO flights (A320 for one, and E190 for the other)  so I believe we're going to be at 4x daily now for MCO!

Not only has Spirit increase MCO to 2x daily, Fort Lauderdale will also start 2x daily flights on Spirit. This will mean Spirit will be operating 5 daily flights out of RIC this summer (2x RIC-MCO, 2x RIC-FLL, 1x RIC-LAS) all on the 182 seat A320. Fort Lauderdale will have 3 total daily flights from RIC (2x on Spirit, 1x on JetBlue) and Orlando will have 4 total daily flights from RIC (2x on Spirit, 2x on JetBlue).

[Flood Zone]

What's the Fort Lauderdale airport like? Family may be planning a trip to that area this summer. Convenient rental car access, etc.?

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

Not only has Spirit increase MCO to 2x daily, Fort Lauderdale will also start 2x daily flights on Spirit. This will mean Spirit will be operating 5 daily flights out of RIC this summer (2x RIC-MCO, 2x RIC-FLL, 1x RIC-LAS) all on the 182 seat A320. Fort Lauderdale will have 3 total daily flights from RIC (2x on Spirit, 1x on JetBlue) and Orlando will have 4 total daily flights from RIC (2x on Spirit, 2x on JetBlue).

Dang!  Look at those cheap prices!  I do realize that’s before paying for any upgrades or luggage, but still!  Jump on these deals!

[eandslee]

Wonder if this route will become a new longstanding cargo route for RIC?

 

[Merrittk92]

2 hours ago, eandslee said:

Wonder if this route will become a new longstanding cargo route for RIC?

 

The demand from military traffic alone should be enough to sustain annual service.

[eandslee]

It’s so good to see this on social media!  Spring Break travel is the likely reason, but that just means that March passenger numbers should be very good!

 

[eandslee]

Got the airport’s news letter yesterday in my email inbox and saw this story providing the latest news on the new FIS status.  I would have thought international routes would have already been negotiated at this point, but here we are.  Hoping there is an announcement very soon!  Also, the latest routes map below:

 

 

[blopp1234]

A few updates I’ve heard/ seen at the airport.

 

1. United has been using the 70+ seat E-175 on the morning flight from Dulles to RIC, which represents additional capacity through Dulles. 

 

2. Can’t remember if this has already been mentioned but JetBlue and Spirit have been adding capacity to Florida for this spring and summer. Some days have 4 daily flights to MCO (2 JetBlue, 2 Spirit) and 3 daily flights to FLL (1 JetBlue, 2 Spirit). Hopefully these become permanent, but it’s nice to see multiple airlines seeing increasing demand to Florida.

 

3. I saw on airliners.net that Delta’s route from RIC-BOS is averaging 92% full on its three daily E-175 flights. Hopefully we see increased frequencies or upguaging of aircraft (would love to see the A220 or A319 added to the route). This is also in the top 10 for load factors out of all of the routes from Boston.

 

4. American has placed an order for I believe 90 Embraer E-175 aircraft, in order to phase out their smaller 50 seat jets. This will be helpful in increasing seat capacity out of RIC as currently American flies 50 seat jets to Chicago and Philadelphia, which will be upguaged to larger aircraft once they are delivered.

 

[eandslee]

Cool thread about RIC on Reddit:

 

[blopp1234]

24 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Cool thread about RIC on Reddit:

 

I wholeheartedly agree that RIC offers a great passenger experience with the exception of having terrible food options. Would it kill them to add some brand name stuff like a Starbucks or Chick-fil-A?

[Shakman]

Yes!  About a month after I was at RIC thinking the same.  They definitely needs better food options however where is there space for new vendors?  Maybe replace what's there with a food court?  If so, it will have to be post security to be effective.   Hmmm.  Maybe this food court could be a connector between both concourses?

Edited March 18 by Shakman

[I miss RVA]

33 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Cool thread about RIC on Reddit:

 

Only part I completely disagree with is the "keep it small" trope. We need to get rid of that mindset and get this airport go GROW!!!

[eandslee]

I just liked to read all the love folks have for the airport…despite some of its flaws. No airport is perfect, but it certainly is nice to see people openly express how great the airport is. Hope this entices others who don’t currently use the airport, to start using it!  Hopefully, even with its growth, the airport will remain the highlight of travelers’ trips!

To keep the travelers coming, we need international flights (like…yesterday!), more nonstop domestic destinations,  more frequency on popular routes, some better food options, the ability to go from one concourse to another without having to go thru TSA, maybe some lounges (at least A lounge), and TSA serving passengers later than 8:00pm. Always room for improvement. I hope RIC is up to the task!

[I miss RVA]

13 hours ago, eandslee said:

I just liked to read all the love folks have for the airport…despite some of its flaws. No airport is perfect, but it certainly is nice to see people openly express how great the airport is. Hope this entices others who don’t currently use the airport, to start using it!  Hopefully, even with its growth, the airport will remain the highlight of travelers’ trips!

To keep the travelers coming, we need international flights (like…yesterday!), more nonstop domestic destinations,  more frequency on popular routes, some better food options, the ability to go from one concourse to another without having to go thru TSA, maybe some lounges (at least A lounge), and TSA serving passengers later than 8:00pm. Always room for improvement. I hope RIC is up to the task!

Relocating and consolidating the TSA check-in: do I remember correctly that the powers-that-be is pushing this to the front burner? What's the story with this?

[eandslee]

31 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Relocating and consolidating the TSA check-in: do I remember correctly that the powers-that-be is pushing this to the front burner? What's the story with this?

I don’t know what the timeline is now, but about 6 months ago they said that we could see some moment in this within 2 years or so.  @flack4ric could probably provide a better, more updated answer. 

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

I don’t know what the timeline is now, but about 6 months ago they said that we could see some moment in this within 2 years or so.  @flack4ric could probably provide a better, more updated answer. 

Wow - within two years? Well, I suppose that's accounting for acquiring the federal funding, plus planning, designing and doing all the pre-work necessary to actually do construction.

I'm guessing the airport's more immediate-term goals are getting the international gate open and functional - AND - getting some international flights rolling in. It's long overdue. I hope it's not a drip-drip-trickle of airlines/flights, though. My prayer is that we'll get a flood of flights all starting up within a reasonably short amount of time - and preferably within the next few months. As I've said before, my BIGGEST fear is that this gate will be open and sit dormant for God-Himself only knows how long (months upon months upon months) and as soon as ORF's gate opens - BOOM - airlines come out of the woodwork to schedule international flights from there - GOD-FORBID! We need to get this up and running like YESTERDAY.

[eandslee]

Not 100% sure what this means, but I THINK it means that JetBlue is boosting its frequency on the BOS-RIC to 4x daily. Someone please verify what I’m reading is indeed what I think it is:

 

[blopp1234]

18 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Not 100% sure what this means, but I THINK it means that JetBlue is boosting its frequency on the BOS-RIC to 4x daily. Someone please verify what I’m reading is indeed what I think it is:

 

Only time will tell. If it is they haven’t updated their schedule as RIC-BOS goes from 3 to 2 daily flights this summer when JetBlue switches out the 100 seat E190 with the almost 150 seat A220-300.

 

Id love to see them add a flight to San Juan but JetBlue doesn’t seem to eager to try new routes at this point in time.

[I miss RVA]

31 minutes ago, blopp1234 said:

Only time will tell. If it is they haven’t updated their schedule as RIC-BOS goes from 3 to 2 daily flights this summer when JetBlue switches out the 100 seat E190 with the almost 150 seat A220-300.

 

Id love to see them add a flight to San Juan but JetBlue doesn’t seem to eager to try new routes at this point in time.

1.) So beefing up - if Jet Blue it going from 3 to 2 to offset increased flight capacity (bigger aircraft) - are you saying they MIGHT be adding back that third flight so that there would be three 150-seat daily flights between RIC-BOS?

2.) Add a flight to San Juan: as in RIC-SJU? (meaning from Richmond)

[My2cent]

Wow we had a visitor today a 350! Did anyone see it on the ground ?

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, My2cent said:

Wow we had a visitor today a 350! Did anyone see it on the ground ?

And a legitimately international flight at that!

[eandslee]

Yes - I friend of mine who works at RIC snapped some photos (below).  Don’t get your hopes up too high - this was a German Air Force aircraft which was here to just conduct some tech training.  Still, it’s a sight you don’t see often at RIC:

 

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, eandslee said:

Yes - I friend of mine who works at RIC snapped some photos (below).  Don’t get your hopes up too high - this was a German Air Force aircraft which was here to just conduct some tech training.  Still, it’s a sight you don’t see often at RIC:

 

Two quick thoughts:

First -- HUMBLE THANKS to your pal at RIC who snapped the photos. Indeed - am not getting my hopes up at this time - HOWEVER- this DOES show that even as currently configured, RIC IS physically capable of handling bigger birds than those that fly in now. An A350 is nothing to sneeze at. Correct me if I'm wrong, but an A350 is considered a "heavy", yes? (And the sky king and sky queen - the A380 and the 747) would be considered "super heavies", correct?)

Mind you - not like we're funneling enough passengers through to fill one of these big birds on any given flight, regardless of domestic or international - though I still say the "build it and they will come" paradigm DOES work and CAN work here (it works in other cities). Obviously, when shekels are involved, folks get a bit nervous about taking big Nestea Plunges - but one can always hope. We just have to do everything under the sun to ramp up demand.

Second -- this might currently have more meaning, @eandslee to you than it would to your friend (though you could always explain the significance of this) - but in light of these amazing photos of an at-this-time-still-rare event at RIC - your friend is more than worthy of receiving the rarest of the rare of our community's awards - a freshly minted, hand-polished piece of RVA/UP GOLD Hardware!! I believe this is only the third gold trophy ever awarded here (fourth at most, but I don't think we've awarded three of them at this time - I'll have to go back and do some research) -- but these photos and coverage of this event go light years above and beyond the call of duty IMNSHO - and is worthy of something we hand out here in our little online burg about as often as we see full solar eclipses.

A heartfelt MAZAL TOV to your friend on earning this exceptionally rare, exceptionally prestigious, exceptionally significant RVA/UP award!