Richmond International Airport

[ancientcarpenter]

8 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Awww -  Hey, that's such a cool idea. PLEASE if you do take him, tell us how he liked it and how he reacted. I remember the first time I saw planes taking off/landing at RIC - well, it was called "Byrd Field" back then - and OMG - I was HOOKED! My folks had to get me one of those little airport playsets for my birthday after that because all I wanted to do was to "play airport". 

Have a blast with your son and let us know how he enjoys the day! 

I was told 450 Portugee Rd  was the place to be but didn't know if anyone here had a better secret spot.

[Flood Zone]

23 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Speaking of seeing the planes, anyone know a good spot I can take my toddler to watch the planes take off and/or land? And a good time of day for it? Would love for him to see it up close and personal - make his little day!

Great idea!

At some point during COVID, I guess after air travel started resuming somewhat, we'd park in the lot belonging to the private charter company (can't remember its name) and watch occasional take-off/landings from there. Pretty decent view, our kids were young enough at the time to enjoy it, and no one kicked us out. 

[Shakman]

When I plane spot around RIC, I will sometimes go to WAWA's and the Microtel parking lot.

[Niccckk]

12 hours ago, ancientcarpenter said:

I was told 450 Portugee Rd  was the place to be but didn't know if anyone here had a better secret spot.

 

I always spot in this gravel area on Portugee Road or I spot on top of the parking garages

[I miss RVA]

Interesting story in today's Henrico Citizen: The recently signed legislation that avoided a federal government shutdown includes funding for various metro RVA projects - one in particular for an important construction project at RIC. Here's the list of projects (below) as published by the Citizen - highlighting the RIC project:

The $467.5 billion government shutdown settlement will fund federal departments, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. It also includes nearly $148 million for Virginia-specific projects secured by Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

That amount includes several projects that will impact Henrico:

• $2 million for the Better Housing Coalition to construct 106 affordable rental units as part of the Carter Woods III development in Eastern Henrico;
• $1.67 million for YMCA Richmond to build residential housing and provide services for domestic violence survivors in the Richmond region;
• $500,000 for the Capital Region Airport Commission’s Apron Construction Project, which will construct a new aircraft apron to enable the Richmond Airport to relocate two areas of current general aviation operations to one consolidated, state-of-the- art area on the East Side of the airfield.;
• $30,000 for the Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity to conduct emergency home renovations and accessibility modifications and assist households with small payments necessary to allow for additional repairs.

ALSO - am thrilled to see the $2 million for the Better Housing Coalition to construct 106 income-based apartments in Eastern Henrico. We can't get enough of these built.

From today's Henrico Citizen:

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/government-shutdown-settlement-includes-funds-for-several-henrico-metro-richmond-projects/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

[eandslee]

To add to that good news, I just saw where frequency on Delta between RIC-DTW will increase.  The big deal is that one of the flights will be an A-319 - a mainline aircraft much larger with more capacity than the CRJs!  This is actually the first time I’ve seen anything larger than a CRJ serving this route…at least that I can remember.  This is GREAT news!  DCI = Delta Connection Incorporated 

Edited April 2 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

To add to that good news, I just saw where frequency on Delta between RIC-DTW will increase.  The big deal is that one of the flights will be an A-319 - a mainline aircraft much larger with more capacity than the CRJs!  This is actually the first time I’ve seen anything larger than a CRJ serving this route…at least that I can remember.  This is GREAT news!  DCI = Delta Connection Incorporated 

So wait - that means Delta to/from Detroit 3x daily now? What was it previously?

Is anyone keeping a running tally of 1.) new routes, 2.) increased frequencies on existing routes and 3.) larger aircraft that's will be coming online in 2024 at/for RIC? Would it be possible for one of our esteemed gurus (or anyone, but I figure our gurus have the inside track on all of this info) to perhaps pull together a quick N dirty spreadsheet with this data? (I know - I'm a demanding old cuss - freely admitted... but it would be really good to keep track of all of this...)

Edited April 2 by I miss RVA

[blopp1234]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

To add to that good news, I just saw where frequency on Delta between RIC-DTW will increase.  The big deal is that one of the flights will be an A-319 - a mainline aircraft much larger with more capacity than the CRJs!  This is actually the first time I’ve seen anything larger than a CRJ serving this route…at least that I can remember.  This is GREAT news!  DCI = Delta Connection Incorporated 

Delta has been flying their 717s into RIC for quite some time, usually once or twice a day during the winter, along with 1-2 CRJ flights (3 flights per day total). The A319 (130+ seats) shows a shift in capacity away from the 717 (110 seats), atleast at Detroit. Hopefully we see the A319 start replacing the CRJs on this route and others as well as Delta continues restoring capacity out of Detroit post pandemic. I’d also love to see larger aircraft used on Deltas route to Boston, as the current 3x daily E175 (76 seats) are averaging over 90% full. The A220-100 or 717 come to mind as possible larger aircraft to use. 

[blopp1234]

22 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

So wait - that means Delta to/from Detroit 3x daily now? What was it previously?

Is anyone keeping a tally of 1.) new routes, 2.) increase frequencies on existing routes and 3.) larger aircraft that's will be coming online in 2024 at/for RIC?

Delta has been flying 3x daily flights to Detroit out of RIC for years I believe, since they merged with Northwest airlines back in 2008. My hope is that as Delta’s hubs at ATL, LGA, JFK and BOS become more and more crowded and adding flights becomes harder and harder into those airports, Delta will upguage aircraft into those cities and add more flights to places like Detroit or Minneapolis for connections.

 

As far as the total upguages for this summer out of RIC, it’s tough to say without going and looking at every airlines scheduled. I’ve listed the summer schedules for the major airlines (American, Delta, JetBlue, Spirit, United, Southwest) out of RIC for their flights that operate atleast daily. The ones I remember are below:

American (21 daily flights):

RIC-CLT (7x A321)

RIC-DFW (3x 737)

RIC- LGA (3x E175)

RIC- ORD (3x E145)

RIC- PHL (4x E145)

RIC-MIA (1x 737)

 

Delta (25 daily flights):

RIC-DTW (1x A319, 2x CRJ900)

RIC-ATL (9x 757)

RIC- MSP (2x CRJ900)

RIC-BOS (3x E175)

RIC-JFK (3x CRJ900)

RIC- LGA (5x CRJ900)

 

United (15 daily flights):

RIC-IAH (1x 737)

RIC-DEN (2x 737)

RIC- ORD (1x 737, 3x CRJ550)

RIC-IAD (4x CRJ550)

RIC-EWR (1x E175, 3x CRJ550)

 

JetBlue (6 daily flights):

RIC-BOS (3x E190)

RIC-FLL (1x A320)

RIC-MCO (2x A320)

 

Spirit (4x daily flights):

RIC-LAS (1x A320)

RIC-FLL (2x A320)

RIC-MCO (1x A320)

Southwest (6x daily flights):

RIC-ATL (3x 737)

RIC-MDW (2x 737)

RIC-DEN (1x 737)
 

[Shakman]

About a month ago, I read on the blog aeroroutes.com that UA DEN service will be reduced to 1x Daily mainline service.  When I get time, I'll find and post it here.

Edited April 2 by Shakman

[Shakman]

Now I can't find this article.  What I do know is United has been reducing service on a number of routes due to issues with Boeing deliveries.

Edited April 2 by Shakman

[eandslee]

Not RIC related, but just so you know - ORF just got a new route on Frontier Airlines to Philadelphia.  How many is that now this year compared to RIC’s…what…2 new routes?  Geez….

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/frontier-airlines-new-non-stop-flights-norfolk-to-philadelphia-this-summer/291-c15a68b5-26d9-4971-a300-ca67a052b12b?fbclid=IwAR0lGvBF16uUlOCixAQ5oXU286zQiCBCmboK3pae1RPVvF5YBtkKzzW2N2E_aem_AfBvtHxEPvFTWpjuRFSWeybJVCpPGcHGyhQWJ3A0z9GHD8ucdmROKeVg2SsJG-w3ur8#lultxztjqfixa35ggl

[I miss RVA]

45 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Not RIC related, but just so you know - ORF just got a new route on Frontier Airlines to Philadelphia.  How many is that now this year compared to RIC’s…what…2 new routes?  Geez….

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/frontier-airlines-new-non-stop-flights-norfolk-to-philadelphia-this-summer/291-c15a68b5-26d9-4971-a300-ca67a052b12b?fbclid=IwAR0lGvBF16uUlOCixAQ5oXU286zQiCBCmboK3pae1RPVvF5YBtkKzzW2N2E_aem_AfBvtHxEPvFTWpjuRFSWeybJVCpPGcHGyhQWJ3A0z9GHD8ucdmROKeVg2SsJG-w3ur8#lultxztjqfixa35ggl

Philly, San Diego, San Juan and I think at least two others. Five total, if my admittedly shoddy counting is correct.

Dunno what's the holdup with RIC getting some new routes...   What did we pick up so far? I know Nashville. Did we also get St. Louis? (Spirit?) I can't remember. I can't believe we've picked up only one new route while so many other airports are getting new routes hand over fist. What gives? The rate at which things are going, ORF won't just leap-frog us heading into 2025, they'll effing BLOW PAST us. Jesus...

We'd better get some international flights rolling in here before ORF gets their federal facility and international gate open. Mark my words -- I'm worried to death that our gate will open and sit virtually unused for a year and then the minute ORF's gate opens - BAM!!!!!! -- they get international flights out the wazzoo... 

I don't get why we can't get Frontier in here. And we've GOTTA get Alaska Air and that Seattle route going. That's mission critical at this stage.

Man... I swear... today has just not been my day. Learning that one of our chief competitor cities (about 138 miles to our southwest) is up-zoning to 40 stories for a developer who MIGHT build something as big as six or seven floors here... and ORF getting YET ANOTHER new route while RIC is sitting still as can be with the thumb firmly planted.

Not a good day for the old fat boy in Windy City-ville at all. 

Edited April 4 by I miss RVA

[eandslee]

More plane spotting captured by a friend a couple days ago at RIC (just posted). You can tell that air traffic at the airport is picking up as we draw closer to the summer months.  This video has a lot of cool footage.  Hope you enjoy (I happen to love these videos)!

 

[BigBobbyG]

Quick anecdote that I figured y'all might find interesting. A few weeks back I asked the question about Breeze flights to Phoenix and whether they would be available during June. Unfortunately that was not the case so I was originally planning on flying out of Dulles or Washington National. To my happy surprise however, I actually found much better prices here at RIC than I did at the two DC airports. Yes they do require layovers, but so did the ones I was looking at DC and it was a good $100 dollars cheaper total (for two people) to leave from RIC. Also that's before I factored in gas or a train ticket up there. Long story short I'm glad to see we were competitive in pricing and I am happy to be padding RIC's numbers this Summer!

[eandslee]

15 minutes ago, BigBobbyG said:

Quick anecdote that I figured y'all might find interesting. A few weeks back I asked the question about Breeze flights to Phoenix and whether they would be available during June. Unfortunately that was not the case so I was originally planning on flying out of Dulles or Washington National. To my happy surprise however, I actually found much better prices here at RIC than I did at the two DC airports. Yes they do require layovers, but so did the ones I was looking at DC and it was a good $100 dollars cheaper total (for two people) to leave from RIC. Also that's before I factored in gas or a train ticket up there. Long story short I'm glad to see we were competitive in pricing and I am happy to be padding RIC's numbers this Summer!

Sweet!  So glad things worked out. I’m also glad to see very competitive prices out of RIC!  That will go a long way to keeping people coming to RIC instead of the DC airports!  Thanks for sharing!

[blopp1234]

Well it’s official. Southwest is launching RIC-BWI with 2x daily flights. I think this is primarily to connect RIC flyers to the northeast as it isn’t an advantageous location for flights to the west coast or south as opposed to Southwest’s more central focus cities of Chicago Midway, Atlanta, Nashville, St Louis or Denver.

 

Speaking of Nashville, RIC-BNA on Southwest is bookable in June as well with daily flights which is big because it shows Southwest taking a stab at daily service for a few weeks to get a feel for the market. My guess is next summer, Southwest will expand to daily service year round to BNA.

 

The only downside is that Southwest is reducing RIC-ATL to 1x per day. Below is a breakdown of Southwests schedule from RIC:

 

RIC-BWI: 2x per day

RIC-BNA: 1x per week seasonal (7x per week in June 2024)

RIC-MDW: 2x per day

RIC-DEN: 1x per day

RIC-ATL: 1x per day
 

 

Edited April 9 by blopp1234

[Niccckk]

23 minutes ago, blopp1234 said:

The only downside is that Southwest is reducing RIC-ATL to 1x per day. Below is a breakdown of Southwests schedule from RIC:

 

This sucks but it definitely makes sense as Southwest is really just diversifying where people can connect. I hope they eventually bring back MCO & TPA though.

You'd think they'd keep the ATL frequency higher because ATL is pretty much the gateway to Florida & Carabiean destinations with Southwest if your connecting, or else you gotta go to Baltimore or MDW now.

Edited April 9 by Niccckk

[I miss RVA]

29 minutes ago, Niccckk said:

This sucks but it definitely makes sense as Southwest is really just diversifying where people can connect. I hope they eventually bring back MCO & TPA though.

You'd think they'd keep the ATL frequency higher because ATL is pretty much the gateway to Florida & Carabiean destinations with Southwest if your connecting, or else you gotta go to Baltimore or MDW now.

Ugh... so it's pretty likely then that this kiboshes any hope that Southwest might actually "beef up" direct service to a few more destinations to/from RIC?

[blopp1234]

6 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Ugh... so it's pretty likely then that this kiboshes any hope that Southwest might actually "beef up" direct service to a few more destinations to/from RIC?

Not necessarily. 
 

Southwest uses BWI as a connecting point for places in the northeast, such as Buffalo, Syracuse, Portland, etc.). This change will make it easier for RIC passengers to access the northeast without having to fly all the way out to Midway and fly back, saving RIC passengers money and time. Southwest could still very easily beef up service to the west or South as BWI isn’t a great connecting point for RIC passengers trying to get to Florida, Texas or the Caribbean.

38 minutes ago, Niccckk said:

This sucks but it definitely makes sense as Southwest is really just diversifying where people can connect. I hope they eventually bring back MCO & TPA though.

You'd think they'd keep the ATL frequency higher because ATL is pretty much the gateway to Florida & Carabiean destinations with Southwest if your connecting, or else you gotta go to Baltimore or MDW now.

It seems like Southwest is downsizing Atlanta because Greenville/Spartanburg is also going to 1x per day from Atlanta. This is likely due to an over saturated market in the Atlanta area as Delta has their largest hub and Spirit and Frontier have focus cities in addition to Southwest. My guess is Southwest is gonna look to keep moving away from Atlanta and my guess is that Nashville, Orlando and Tampa will pick up the slack. 

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

Not necessarily. 
 

Southwest uses BWI as a connecting point for places in the northeast, such as Buffalo, Syracuse, Portland, etc.). This change will make it easier for RIC passengers to access the northeast without having to fly all the way out to Midway and fly back, saving RIC passengers money and time. Southwest could still very easily beef up service to the west or South as BWI isn’t a great connecting point for RIC passengers trying to get to Florida, Texas or the Caribbean.

Oh yeah? So wait - Southwest funneling RIC passengers to BWI would not preclude them ADDING additional DIRECT service out of RIC to other cities? While I realize that not every airline is going to follow Breeze's model of direct city-to-city routes (and this has a been a HUGE benefit to RIC), I've been SO sick of the fact that RIC has, by and large, until recently had very little to show for direct service outside of the typical/traditional hub-and-spoke routes.

While I realize that being anything closely resembling a hub or even a focus city is out the window for RIC, I HAVE been hoping that Breeze basically turning RIC into a de facto "mini hub" of sorts would maybe open the door for other airlines to jump into the fray and expand direct service out of RIC to beyond just the handful of routes they've traditionally had. That's why I'm chomping at the bit SO much to get Frontier and Alaska Air in here - and Seattle being the obvious BIG prize if we could score Alaska. 

And one more point... okay folks - it's approaching mid-April. WHAT IS THE STORY WITH THE FIS AND THE INTERNATIONAL GATE? WHAT AIRLINES ARE GOING TO GIVE US SERVICE TO WHAT INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS??

I mean - COME ON, RIC!!! Can we get a move on with this? I'd like us to at least have something fairly robust before ORF comes online with THEIR FIS/international gate and steals away pretty much EVERYTHING.

[eandslee]

RIC could always “delay” the opening of the FIS until there is an airline that will use it for international flights. I have no idea when in April it’s supposed to open, but if there is no international service, what’s the point in announcing the opening of the FIS?

[Niccckk]

6 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

It seems like Southwest is downsizing Atlanta because Greenville/Spartanburg is also going to 1x per day from Atlanta. This is likely due to an over saturated market in the Atlanta area as Delta has their largest hub and Spirit and Frontier have focus cities in addition to Southwest. My guess is Southwest is gonna look to keep moving away from Atlanta and my guess is that Nashville, Orlando and Tampa will pick up the slack. 

This is really true actually. Although them downsizing at Atlanta is basically handing the ball to Delta, it actually does give room for Southwest to possibly consider restarting MCO, TPA, or other Florida destinations, as Atlanta is a logical connecting point to Florida, so maybe soon we can see that? And over the past week I think Baltimore is capturing a whole new set of passengers out of RIC for Southwest, as that'll be the connector to Northeast destinations that don't have sufficient demand / too much competition out of RIC (ex: LGA, BOS, etc.). 

We also have to remember that just a few years ago we had as little as 2 routes from Southwest, so seeing them show interest in RIC again is amazing and I hope this continues.

Edited April 10 by Niccckk

[Niccckk]

Urban twitter is definitely getting a kick out of this news haha

While I understand their frustration at face value and I do agree with what they are saying, they need to realize this flight it souly for CONNECTING flights as BWI is a Southwest Hub. I read on Simply-Flying that like 98% of traffic on the RIC-IAD route are connecting, which I believe is similar with RIC-BWI, where almost all traffic is connecting.

[blopp1234]

16 minutes ago, Niccckk said:

Urban twitter is definitely getting a kick out of this news haha

While I understand their frustration at face value and I do agree with what they are saying, they need to realize this flight it souly for CONNECTING flights as BWI is a Southwest Hub. I read on Simply-Flying that like 98% of traffic on the RIC-IAD route are connecting, which I believe is similar with RIC-BWI, where almost all traffic is connecting.

Agreed, in a perfect world Southwest would partner with Amtrak to have passengers go from Richmond to BWI via Amtrak, but there are definitely logistical challenges that come from that.