Richmond International Airport

[jbjust]

1 hour ago, vaceltic said:

There's at least nine seats left - just tried the max number of passengers to book a reservation on the dates I go  

Of course you don't know how many seats they traditionally overbook...

[eandslee]

RIC probably just set a new record for passengers served in the month of July.  It wasn’t the busiest month ever on record (that was in June), but July wasn’t far off.  A comparison of the two months (June and July) shows that there was a difference of only 313 passengers served!  July 2018 out-paced July 2017 by 12.44%!!  That’s some pretty serious growth!  An official announcement should be coming out soon, but until then, you can take a look at July’s stats here:

https://flyrichmond.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/RIC-JUL18-Activity-Report.pdf

After a quick calculation, if we continue on this trajectory the rest of this calendar year, RIC could break the 4 million passengers served mark this year!  It’s going to be close.  If we can do it, that would be huge for RIC!

Edited August 30, 2018 by eandslee

[eandslee]

This is the official news on last month’s record month:

https://flyrichmond.com/ric-traffic-jumps-12-4-to-establish-a-new-july-record/

Looks like Allegiant will be extending its seasonal service to Nashville through at least February 2019.  That’s very good news. Hopefully, it will lead to permanent service. 

[blopp1234]

Yet another all time monthly passenger record broken by RIC!

https://www.richmond.com/business/local/richmond-airport-sets-another-record-for-passenger-traffic/article_52198752-95e1-5718-b557-35cb4f2abefe.html

[eandslee]

10 minutes ago, blopp1234 said:

Yet another all time monthly passenger record broken by RIC!

https://www.richmond.com/business/local/richmond-airport-sets-another-record-for-passenger-traffic/article_52198752-95e1-5718-b557-35cb4f2abefe.html

You beat me to it - awesome!

Folks, the statistics in this article are staggering (relatively speaking). The airport is seriously growing and I hope the trajectory continues.  The airport can offer so much opportunity and attract more companies to Richmond (not to mention more airlines, routes, and additional seats).  Please continue to use RIC whenever possible.  It is truly making a difference.  I hope the airport breaks the 4 million passenger mark this year...it’s going to be close!

[benstyree]

2 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

Yet another all time monthly passenger record broken by RIC!

https://www.richmond.com/business/local/richmond-airport-sets-another-record-for-passenger-traffic/article_52198752-95e1-5718-b557-35cb4f2abefe.html

It's awesome to see these numbers coming in.  It sounds like the new Nashville route is doing well, happy to hear that and I hope it becomes permanent.  Someone call Southwest and tell them they're missing a lot of potential at RIC.  Also, does anyone know the reason for Jetblue's steep decline while all others grew??

[eandslee]

Can’t figure out what’s up with JetBlue’s decline. From what I’ve seen, they’ve upgraded their aircraft to A320s on their Florida routes and it looks like all the others are the same.  So it seems to me that their numbers should have increased.  Just not sure what’s happening there.  Maybe it’s a mistake?

[eandslee]

Love this quote from RIC’s official announcement regarding last weekend’s passenger numbers:

• The just-completed NASCAR Race Week, featuring playoff races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond Raceway, saw a passenger increase of nearly 32 percent over the 2017 September race week. Sunday, September 23, may have been the busiest outbound day in the Airport’s history, as nearly 8,000 travelers departed from RIC.

[eandslee]

Richmondbizsense did an article on the airport expansion project that is about to break ground and the following quote from the airport CEO is very revealing and is a glimpse of things to come:

“We are in talks with several carriers that are interested in coming to (RIC), and this expansion is going to aid in the airport bringing more carriers, more flights and more passenger traffic to our area.”

https://richmondbizsense.com/2018/09/27/maryland-based-firm-wins-28m-ric-contract/

[drayrichmond]

I am very excited for the airport expansion, it's a great airport to start with, this is going to make it even better. Hopefully we get more flights out west or even some sort of flight over the Atlantic in the coming years. 

[cbl1]

Someone like WOW with some Iceland flights would be terrific gateway from Richmond to Europe.

 

[Wahoo 07]

Or Norwegian Air to London.  The capital of Britain's first colony needs a direct link to the old country.  Both would be a great though.

[eandslee]

An international carrier could  be in RIC’s future.  The airport’s CEO (Mathiasen) said that SEVERAL carriers are interested in coming to Richmond. There are only 3 other major domestic carriers that RIC does not have and they are:  Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines.  I don’t think Hawaiian Airlines is a possibility.  Also, I don’t see Frontier Airlines coming to Richmond either with their non-stop service to Denver so close out of Norfolk.   That only leaves Alaska Airlines, which would be nice to have direct flights to the West Coast.  However, 1 airline is not “several” airlines.  Could it be possible that Wow or Norwegian Airlines is one of the interested carriers willing to come to RIC?  Not sure, but it’s fun to speculate.  We’ll just have to see what Mathiasen meant by his quote. 

[cwd221]

I have been a Southwest whore on here before, but I just want to see an expanded Southwest selection. A direct flight to Chicago would be ideal so I dont have to fly United or American back home. 

[jbjust]

40 minutes ago, cwd221 said:

I have been a Southwest whore on here before, but I just want to see an expanded Southwest selection. A direct flight to Chicago would be ideal so I dont have to fly United or American back home. 

If we're adding Southwest destinations, let's add ones that aren't already served -- like a daily flight to Nashville or Las Vegas. 

[benstyree]

I saw some articles today about United expanding service and adding 22 new routes, mostly at EWR and IAD.  All of the articles mentioned that United was also adding service to other destination including, among a few others, Richmond. No new routes were mentioned from RIC, so does anyone know what this means? Upgrading existing routes, adding additional service on existing routes? Would love to see some new destinations along with the expansion of currents...

Edited October 17, 2018 by benstyree

[eandslee]

1 hour ago, benstyree said:

I saw some articles today about United expanding service and adding 22 new routes, mostly at EWR and IAD.  All of the articles mentioned that United was also adding service to other destination including, among a few others, Richmond. No new routes were mentioned from RIC, so does anyone know what this means? Upgrading existing routes, adding additional service on existing routes? Would love to see some new destinations along with the expansion of currents...

Haven’t heard anything yet.  Do you have a link to any of these articles?  I’d like to read them for context. I’d love for there to be an expansion of service through United!  Bring it on!

[cwd221]

“We’re also expanding service to key business destinations including Detroit; St. Louis; Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; and Richmond, Virginia,” Jill Kaplan, United’s president of New York/New Jersey, said about the company’s plan to add more flights on several existing Newark routes. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2018/10/15/united-airlines-new-routes-nyc-washington-dc-california-hubs/1647581002/

This reads to me as they are offering more flights to NY. 

[eandslee]

That’s what it sounds like to me too.  I have noticed an upgrade of aircraft flying to and from Newark lately - instead of the smaller regional jets (ERJ-145s), they are now flying the Embraer 175, which is a larger plane, but not a mainline aircraft (an upgrade nevertheless).  What I have not noticed is any increased frequency of the route (which can be more difficult to detect just looking at the flight schedules).  Not sure how many flights there were per day versus flights per day now...I’ve only noticed the aircraft upgrade.  Maybe an announcement will come out soon.  I’ll keep my eyes peeled! 

[Shakman]

According to airlineroute.net, UA service to EWR will increase from 5 to 6 daily:

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/281066/united-airlines-domestic-network-changes-in-1h19/

 

Edited October 17, 2018 by Shakman

[cwd221]

5 hours ago, eandslee said:

That’s what it sounds like to me too.  I have noticed an upgrade of aircraft flying to and from Newark lately - instead of the smaller regional jets (ERJ-145s), they are now flying the Embraer 175, which is a larger plane, but not a mainline aircraft (an upgrade nevertheless).  What I have not noticed is any increased frequency of the route (which can be more difficult to detect just looking at the flight schedules).  Not sure how many flights there were per day versus flights per day now...I’ve only noticed the aircraft upgrade.  Maybe an announcement will come out soon.  I’ll keep my eyes peeled! 

Once school is over for the semester I may make a Christmas project out of DOT flight information to see if there are any trends with more flights and where they are going to. 

[jbjust]

3 hours ago, Shakman said:

According to airlineroute.net, UA service to EWR will increase from 5 to 6 daily:

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/281066/united-airlines-domestic-network-changes-in-1h19/

 

I quit United largely for that reason, but also noticed during the "hurricane" last week that literally every airline was still flying except United, which cancelled all its Richmond flights.

 

[cbl1]

My problem with united is the small planes out of Richmond for many of the routes.   The Chicago flight - hard to believe there isn't enough business for that flight to be a larger plane.

[eandslee]

5 hours ago, cbl1 said:

My problem with united is the small planes out of Richmond for many of the routes.   The Chicago flight - hard to believe there isn't enough business for that flight to be a larger plane.

Good news:  The Chicago - Richmond route is now an A320 on most flights.  There is an occasional regional jet, most seem to be on the larger mainline aircraft now!

[cbl1]

Great news - because when I flew back in September I got like an EMB 145 with 2-1 seating regional that was about as small as they get (EMB 170 on way back felt like a jumbo jet)