Richmond International Airport

[eandslee]

This is great news for the airport and says a lot about the growth of the local economy. I hope this trend continues and hope that RIC becomes bigger, bringing better service as Richmond grows!

[blopp1234]

Delta will be adding a second daily non stop flight from RVA to Minneapolis. Good to see ridership keep increasing and that we are gettin new flights!

http://m.richmond.com/business/local/article_721c25c2-8af2-5221-8c47-c56ae571b4a7.html?mode=jqm

[Wahoo 07]

7 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

Delta will be adding a second daily non stop flight from RVA to Minneapolis. Good to see ridership keep increasing and that we are gettin new flights!

http://m.richmond.com/business/local/article_721c25c2-8af2-5221-8c47-c56ae571b4a7.html?mode=jqm

That's good news.  Anyone know how the United Denver fight is faring?

[jbjust]

9 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

Delta will be adding a second daily non stop flight from RVA to Minneapolis. Good to see ridership keep increasing and that we are gettin new flights!

http://m.richmond.com/business/local/article_721c25c2-8af2-5221-8c47-c56ae571b4a7.html?mode=jqm

I didn't even realize we had gotten back one of our non-stops to MSP.  

[tparkerzut]

I used to Minneapolis flight on my way to San Francisco. Its nice to have that one and Denver as possible ways to get the west coast without going completely out of our way. 

[eandslee]

4 hours ago, Wahoo 07 said:

That's good news.  Anyone know how the United Denver fight is faring?

Last I heard, it was doing very well!

 

I'm so is excited hear about the new flight. Didn't know there was that much demand for MSP. I'll take it!

[meegwell]

With disappointment I had to book a flight to NYC using Washington Airports today.  For two round-trip tickets 30+ days out I was able to save $600 by making the 1:45 drive up to Washington.  I spent a lot of time trying to make it work out of RIC with connecting flight vs drive time etc...at the end of the day it was a somewhat easy decision.   I love to see good news coming from RIC but as the coach of my favorite team always says "there is still work to be done!"

 

 

[jbjust]

15 minutes ago, meegwell said:

With disappointment I had to book a flight to NYC using Washington Airports today.  For two round-trip tickets 30+ days out I was able to save $600 by making the 1:45 drive up to Washington.  I spent a lot of time trying to make it work out of RIC with connecting flight vs drive time etc...at the end of the day it was a somewhat easy decision.   I love to see good news coming from RIC but as the coach of my favorite team always says "there is still work to be done!"

 

 

The last time I booked a flight to NYC, I noticed that the AA flights to LGA, the Delta flights to JFK, and the United flights to EWR were EXACTLY the same > 1 month out.  Nah, nothing suspicious there. 

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, meegwell said:

With disappointment I had to book a flight to NYC using Washington Airports today.  For two round-trip tickets 30+ days out I was able to save $600 by making the 1:45 drive up to Washington.  I spent a lot of time trying to make it work out of RIC with connecting flight vs drive time etc...at the end of the day it was a somewhat easy decision.   I love to see good news coming from RIC but as the coach of my favorite team always says "there is still work to be done!"

 

 

Appreciate your honesty.  I know that sometimes the prices up north are hard to beat and don't blame you, but at least you tried to make it work. There is no shame in doing what you've got to do. I agree, there is more work to do.  I look forward to the day (if it comes) that booking out of RIC is a no-brainer for all flights. I can say this though, I live in NOVA, but depending on my destination when I fly, RIC is cheaper and wished I lived closer to take advantage of the cheaper flight.  I have gone down to RIC to fly to JAX on Allegiant because it was just dirt cheap and made the trip down there worth it!  So, perhaps there are folks going down from up north to RIC to take flights if they are cheap enough. If the word gets out on cheap flights there, it just might make a difference!

[eandslee]

The airport saw 1.1% more growth in October than it did October last year. Although that isn't much, any growth is welcome!  Additionally, Delta Airlines saw more passengers in October than ever!  This is all good news for the airport. RTD has an article about all this in today's issue that I did not link here (trying to save my free peeks at the articles this month). 

[jbjust]

We've got to get JetBlue or Southwest to renew those flights to JFK or LGA, that was the only thing keeping the prices to NYC down. 

[RiverYuppy]

I have only flown to NYC once and it was while I was still in university, so I was pinching pennies.  I was able to get a direct flight from "People's Express" in Williamsburg to Newark (where I took the metro) for $75 one way.  

I'm surprised RIC doesn't have a budget choice like that.

[flack4ric]

Those of you concluding that a balanced mix of competition yields better fares for consumers, you are correct. As far as PeoplExpress, there are several reasons they no longer exist - not even a tweet in two years. One was definitely insufficient revenue.

[jbjust]

3 hours ago, RiverYuppy said:

I have only flown to NYC once and it was while I was still in university, so I was pinching pennies.  I was able to get a direct flight from "People's Express" in Williamsburg to Newark (where I took the metro) for $75 one way.  

I'm surprised RIC doesn't have a budget choice like that.

I once flew "Air South" from Norfolk to JFK for a similarly low fare.  I remember some of the seats faced backwards, like on the train.  

Edited November 30, 2016 by jbjust

[flack4ric]

Air South and PeoplExpress have something in common: they're both gone. Revenue matters.

[benstyree]

Announcement today that a new airline will be offering daily service from RVA to Pittsburgh.  Awesome to see new routes and additional flights being added!  I really wish that we could get service to Nashville, Las Vegas, and/or Seattle.  It's frustrating to see the list of destinations from an airport like RDU, which serves a metro area only slightly larger, compared to those from RIC.  I understand that we have the DC airports in relatively close proximity, but there's so much untapped potential and I'm happy to see progress like this being made.

http://www.nbc12.com/story/33997595/airline-to-offer-direct-flights-from-richmond-to-pittsburgh

 

By way of reference, I took a quick glance at the RIC and RDU destinations.  Jacksonville is the only one RIC has that RDU does not.  RDU flies the following routes that RIC doesn't offer:  Toronto, Seattle, New Orleans, Fort Myers, London, Los Angeles, Cancun, Paris, Salt Lake City, Austin, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Hartford, Indianapolis, Tampa, Trenton, Las Vegas, Nashville, St. Louis, Phoenix, San Francisco.

Edited December 7, 2016 by benstyree

[flack4ric]

benstyree, thank you for the props on the newly-announced RIC-PIT service. It's great to see the cities re-connected for the first time since 2008.

As far as RDU, not sure how you're measuring the metro area - which is not the same thing as an airport's service (catchment) area.  RDU is significantly larger in terms of territory and population (two MSAs plus most of eastern North Carolina), less "competition," and well-defined industry clusters (the Research Triangle comes to mind) that support a different set of destinations.

[wrldcoupe4]

Doesn't OneJet use a 7 passenger plane? Are they planning adjustments? Won't move the needle too much but new service is always good.

[benstyree]

flack, I just took a quick look at the Raleigh and Richmond MSAs (44 and 45): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas.  I understand there are a variety of factors that affect these sorts of things, of course Raleigh also having Durham adjacent and much less competition.  That comparison was more of a tangent as I typed, my original intent was just to acknowledge the new PIT route.  It's just frustrating to have a city which most would consider a peer of Richmond having nonstop air service to multiple European and west coast destinations.

Speaking of, is there a list of former RIC destinations?  You mention that there was a PIT route before 2008.  I know that flights have gone from RIC to Toronto and Cincinnati before, along with the seasonal vacation routes, but am curious to see what other routes have formerly left from RIC that no longer do.

Edited December 7, 2016 by benstyree

[Icetera]

1 hour ago, benstyree said:

flack, I just took a quick look at the Raleigh and Richmond MSAs (44 and 45): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas.  I understand there are a variety of factors that affect these sorts of things, of course Raleigh also having Durham adjacent and much less competition.  That comparison was more of a tangent as I typed, my original intent was just to acknowledge the new PIT route.  It's just frustrating to have a city which most would consider a peer of Richmond having nonstop air service to multiple European and west coast destinations.

Speaking of, is there a list of former RIC destinations?  You mention that there was a PIT route before 2008.  I know that flights have gone from RIC to Toronto and Cincinnati before, along with the seasonal vacation routes, but am curious to see what other routes have formerly left from RIC that no longer do.

USAir used to fly to PIT from RIC until they dropped PIT as a hub.

[flack4ric]

benstyree, there's no formal list of ex-destinations, but one would include several former hubs like Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Memphis, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Reagan and Toronto would also be on the list, plus a couple of less-than-daily vacation destinations, Freeport and Cancun. All of these cities plus the current destinations have never existed at the same time. It's part of the ebb and flow of commercial service in a deregulated environment.

[flack4ric]

23 hours ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Doesn't OneJet use a 7 passenger plane? Are they planning adjustments? Won't move the needle too much but new service is always good.

Correct. It's an exclusive offering on the RIC-PIT route, definitely positioned to serve business travelers. It wouldn't be terribly difficult for OneJet to double the RIC-PIT O+D volume. OneJet has been conservative with growth, but if this initial offering does well in Richmond, frequency could change or other destinations could become "routes of interest."

Edited December 8, 2016 by flack4ric
word omission

[eandslee]

Awesome RIC airport news today:

This past January saw an 11% increase in passengers over January last year (that is huge)!  Mostly due to better weather this year, but I'll take it!

There is now a second flight added to the new 5-day a week OneJet service from Richmond to Pittsburgh.  These are small aircraft...only 7-seater aircraft, but a second flight is an increase. 

Then one of my favorite - flights to Denver will see an upgrade in aircraft from a 78-seater (Embraer 175) to an Airbus A319 which seats 128 passengers.  That, my friends, is a very good thing!  Now we need to add a second flight and add flights to other points west!

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/second-pittsburgh-flight-added-at-richmond-international-airport-air-traffic/article_4fea9b85-0659-566f-807a-a07113ce9e36.html

Edited March 1, 2017 by eandslee

[eandslee]

Not sure on the prices to fly to Pitt on OneJet just yet. I'm sure it's not going to be cheap, but perhaps it is geared toward the business traveler. It would be nice to have a mainstream airline service the two cities. Seems like there would be sufficient demand for this route even if the flight is in a smaller regional jet seating 50 people.  However, a 7-seater?....that's not a lot of people folks. 

[Wahoo 07]

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/jetblue-adds-second-flight-to-fort-lauderdale-from-richmond/article_7dbc7027-0b83-5b87-9ab4-dccc1baa4953.html

JetBlue with another Ft. Lauderdale flight.  Hopefully more new destinations on JetBlue are forthcoming!