Richmond International Airport

[burt]

Rail??? Oh Burt.

Saw the Lynchburg news as well, wish the community luck with their quest for better access to the north.

Flack4RIC

My way of protesting JetBlue pulling its JFK/RIC schedule. I don't want to fly into the spiffy Richmond Airport on a 50-seat puddle jumper.

To tell the truth, I'm having a chronic sinus problem and flying aggravates it.

PS: The situation has been pretty unnerving this afternoon at JFK and EWR!!!

[burt]

"Fly 'em or lose 'em" is the essence of an RTD article about the status of low-cost carriers at RIC.

Southwest, subsequent to merger with AirTran, could operate at Norfolk, Newport News and Richmond -- all within 80 miles of one another. It's possible the airline could pull out of one of the three cities. That's worrisome.

Business travelers are urged to patronize AirTran/Southwest and Jet Blue, but the unfortunate fact is that Richmond doesn't have as many business travelers as it did a couple of years ago.

My thoughts are that an upward turn in local employment, however slight, as well as the massive Fort Lee expansion could work in Richmond's favor.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/news/2010/nov/12/airp12-ar-647940/

[burt]

Passenger movements go smoothly today at Richmond International:

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/nov/24/ric-passengers-move-smoothly-through-security-ar-674897/

[burt]

Our Moderator, krazeeboi, posted this New York Times story dated November 20th on another city's forum. It's a 4-page article about Southwest Airlines and if you've got the time I think you'll find it interesting.

http://www.nytimes.c...south.html?_r=1

Edited November 26, 2010 by burt

[burt]

Passenger traffic at RIC is up 5.2% in October 2010.

In October 2009, the airport saw 291,882 flyers, while this year's figure for the same month is 307,191.

This is the second best October in RIC history from a numbers standpoint.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/nov/30/airportgater30-ar-685043/

[burt]

Despite an increase in passenger traffic at RIC, funds are going into a public relations push urging Richmonders to fly the low-cost carriers.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...rp01-ar-686334/

Edited December 1, 2010 by burt

[burt]

If the RIC Airport commission would offer a subsidy, Jet Blue would restore service to JFK.

According to the news story, ticket prices to the New York market have risen sharply since Jet Blue suspended service to JFK on November 1st.

Airport subsidization is not unknown in the industry. I may be mistaken, but I believe Newport News subsidizes AirTran.

The Chamber of Commerce as well as AirTran, Jet Blue and Southwest reps should do a bit of arm-twisting with certain travel agencies in Richmond to encourage bookings.

http://www2.timesdis...at01-ar-687842/

Edited December 1, 2010 by burt

[MicoMiles]

If the RIC Airport commission would offer a subsidy, Jet Blue would restore service to JFK.

According to the news story, ticket prices to the New York market have risen sharply since Jet Blue suspended service to JFK on November 1st.

Airport subsidization is not unknown in the industry. I may be mistaken, but I believe Newport News subsidizes AirTran.

The Chamber of Commerce as well as AirTran, Jet Blue and Southwest reps should do a bit of arm-twisting with certain travel agencies in Richmond to encourage bookings.

http://www2.timesdis...at01-ar-687842/

Burt - Basically, JetBlue wants RIC to purchase unsold seats to JFK on a daily basis to make the route profitable. Subsidies, IMO, hurt other carriers serving Richmond.

Southwest provides/will provide service to Panama City, FL but is being subsidize by a local company (St. Joe's)

[jbjust]

St. Joes?

[Icetera]

St. Joes?

From the company website (http://ir.joe.com/overview.cfm):

Over the past decade, The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE) has earned its reputation as one of Florida's premier real estate development companies and one of the nation's most acclaimed placemakers. With approximately 580,000 acres of land, concentrated primarily in Northwest Florida between Tallahassee and Destin, St. Joe is helping to bring high-quality, strategic growth to the last, best part of Florida.

The Company is focused on becoming the primary supplier of entitled land in Northwest Florida. St. Joe owns approximately 41,000 entitled acres that allow for the development of 43,000 residential units and over 13 million square feet of commercial uses. In addition, the Company manages timber operations on thousands of acres of rural lands and thousands of acres of land available that is suitable for rural recreation or large-scale retreats.

Today, St. Joe is working with a wide range of strategic partners and third-party developers on resort, residential, commercial and industrial developments in Northwest Florida.

[burt]

Something in this statement puzzles me.

Jet Blue pulled its RIC/JFK service on November 1st. Yesterday, President and CEO Dave Barger of the airline was in town saying Richmond should be "a natural market" and then gave this explanation for ending JFK service:

Jet Blue "was filling planes but wasn't getting enough high-paying business passengers. It's not the load factor, but yield."

Filling planes?

The carrier still operates flights from Richmond International to Boston, Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. With the possible exception of Boston, are "high-paying business passengers" sustaining the load factors and yields on the Florida flights?

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...tb02-ar-689270/

Edited December 2, 2010 by burt

[burt]

If anybody wants to see an upgraded google map of the Pocahontas Pkwy Airport connector go to:

http://richmondcitywatch.com/

Click "Forum" in bar at top of page, then click RICHMOND DEVELOPMENT, City Issues, thence to Richmond Internation Airport and click page 5.

Edited December 9, 2010 by burt

[burt]

It's nail biting time at RIC.

Southwest serves Norfolk while AirTran serves Newport News and Richmond. Will low-cost flights in Central Virginia survive in any form after the AirTran/Southwest merger?

George Hoffer, University of Richmond transportation economist and VCU professor emeritus, says that "there is nowhere else in the Southwest System where the airline serves three airports within seventy air miles of each other -- especially airports in three smallish cities."

From the current Style Weekly:

http://styleweekly.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=84819C9E9439453684A5A92FB446A757

Edited December 23, 2010 by burt

[Oaktowntwinz]

George Hoffer, University of Richmond transportation econymist and VCU professor emeritus, says that "there is nowhere else in the Southwest System where the airline serves three airports within seventy air miles of each other -- especially airports in three smallish cities."

Don't believe the hype Burt. With due respect to Mr. Hoffer, being an econimist doesn't mean he's an expert on the industry. Actually, his statement is contradictory. Southwest does serve airports within seventy miles of each other. Two examples would be, #1 San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose and #2 Newark, LaGuardia, and Islip. Granted, both markets are larger than Richmond, Newport News and Norfolk, however, Mike Boyd, a well known expert in the industry recently reported Richmond has nothing to worry about. Southwest is going to need feeder traffic to fill those planes out of Atlanta. They bought Airtran for a reason, namely, Airtran has built a solid company and this gives Southwest the opportunity to grow quickly. They can't afford to wait to expand into one city at a time. If any city has reason to worry, I think it would be Newport News because of its proximity to Norfolk. Southwest may think twice about messing with that, as well, because Airtran has done well there. The alarmist reporting in this article is just that. Southwest recently began service in Greenville/Spartanburg, which is a much smaller market than Richmond. There is room for growth in Richmond and Southwest is not going to jump ship that quickly.

[burt]

The new Airport Connector Road between Rt. 895 (Pocahontas Pkwy) and the terminal buildings at RIC opened this morning. IMO, there is the inconvenience of having to use either EZ Pass or credit card on the ramp connecting to Rt.895 eastbound from the airport. What do you do if you come upon the gate and all you have is cash in your pockets?

On the plus side, it will cut off ten minutes driving time for travelers from Eastern Henrico, Chesterfield County and Tri Cities (including Fort Lee.)

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/jan/14/tdmet01-airport-connector-road-opens-today-but-its-ar-773618/

[burt]

Here's a brief, preliminary story by the RTD's Peter Bacque about a slight increase in passenger traffic at RIC during 2010. A more detailed story will be published in the RTD tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I wonder what Flack is learning about Southwest's plans (or lack of same) for service at RIC?

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2011/jan/25/richmond-international-marks-first-yearly-increase-ar-797204/

Edited January 25, 2011 by burt

[burt]

RIC's traffic picture may be somewhat rosier than previously thought.

From Peter Bacque's follow-up story in today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/business/2011/jan/26/passenger-traffic-ric-2010-ar-798972/

[burt]

Flack went head to head with one of the persons commenting at the end of Peter Bacque's RTD preliminary story about traffic increase in 2010 (2nd posting above.)

Every now and then someone complains that landing fees at RIC are inordinately high, especially compared with fees at Norfolk. Here's Flack's reply:

"...per industry data, RIC's landing fees are very competitive with comparable airports and its rate is about half of ORF's."

[flack4ric]

Every now and then someone complains that landing fees at RIC are inordinately high, especially compared with fees at Norfolk. Here's Flack's reply:

"...per industry data, RIC's landing fees are very competitive with comparable airports and its rate is about half of ORF's."

Burt, looks like you've been busy keeping the topic moving - very much appreciated. Regarding the landing fees, the same poster has done this before and we never sought to make it "RIC vs. anyone" discussion, but enough is enough.

Hoping that forum members have had a chance to see some of the elements of the Greater Richmond Chamber's Save Low Fares campaign. If not, here's a few links to get you started:

http://www.savelowfares.com/

http://twitter.com/SaveLowFares

http://www.facebook.com/SaveLowFaresRichmond

http://www.youtube.com/user/SaveLowFaresRichmond

Safe & speedy travels to all!

Flack4RIC

[wrldcoupe4]

We booked our flights in June through AirTran... just doing our part.

[Icetera]

We booked our flights in June through AirTran... just doing our part.

We are finally getting some jobs going, so it looks like AirTran will be seeing more of me for the next couple of months.

[eandslee]

Now that I am living in Georgia (not far from Atlanta) going back to Richmond (my home) on occasion will be a top priority for me when it comes to traveling...and definitely will be flying the discount airlines...namely Air Tran in this case! I want to support my airport - RIC!

[flack4ric]

We are finally getting some jobs going, so it looks like AirTran will be seeing more of me for the next couple of months.

Icetera, an economy with a little positive momentum solves many problems. Glad to hear this news, and thank you for the support!

Flack4RIC

[flack4ric]

Now that I am living in Georgia (not far from Atlanta) going back to Richmond (my home) on occasion will be a top priority for me when it comes to traveling...and definitely will be flying the discount airlines...namely Air Tran in this case! I want to support my airport - RIC!

eandslee, flying's like voting: do it early and often. See you soon!

Flack4RIC

[crashvt03]

I would gladly fly AirTran or JetBlue if my company would allow me to. They have an agreement with Delta and American as preferred airlines. On our corporate travel site most other airlines don't even show up as available to book, and I can't book my flights any other way. Oh well.