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Richmond International Airport


eandslee

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Transcon flights have been hinted at for the past few months by many news outlets so I wouldn’t be shocked to see a western destination. Western Europe has also been mentioned as a possible area of expansion but from what I’ve read, they plan on starting up transcon routes prior to going international. Excited to see what is announced though.

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Just a word of note...Avelo Airlines is supposed to also make a major expansion announcement tomorrow as well; however, I don't see RIC in their plans...at least not yet.  Just read that JAX may be a new airport for Avelo Airlines and not Breeze.  A lot of speculation tonight - hard to sort though all the talk - what's true and what's not, but hopefully RIC gets some great news and that's exciting.  Especially when development news in Richmond has been slower than molasses on a cold day the past two months.

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2 hours ago, eandslee said:

Just a word of note...Avelo Airlines is supposed to also make a major expansion announcement tomorrow as well; however, I don't see RIC in their plans...at least not yet.  Just read that JAX may be a new airport for Avelo Airlines and not Breeze.  A lot of speculation tonight - hard to sort though all the talk - what's true and what's not, but hopefully RIC gets some great news and that's exciting.  Especially when development news in Richmond has been slower than molasses on a cold day the past two months.

So there's been no discussion that you can find that Avelo might somehow make an appearance at RIC in the near future?

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9 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

So there's been no discussion that you can find that Avelo might somehow make an appearance at RIC in the near future?

Here is Avelo Airlines' route map.  RIC is not in the cards yet, but maybe some time in the future:

Latest Avelo Airlines Route Map

 

Compare Avelo's route map and Breeze Airways' route map, which I think is more comprehensive:

Breeze Airways Route Map

 

Edited by eandslee
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Oddly enough, NBC12 is reporting that Breeze will be fly 6 new routes, not 5 - the 5th one being an RIC-Columbus, OH route.  I'm not seeing that one anywhere, so I question their report.  Just saying:

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/03/08/breeze-airways-announces-six-new-nonstop-destinations-ric-fuel-prices-increase/

BTW, fuel prices don't have an immediate impact on airlines because they've already hedge their fuel prices and contracted to buy it at a certain price for a certain amount of time.  This fuel crisis we are seeing now will hopefully be short lived and gas prices will decrease again once things stabilize in Europe.  Fingers crossed.

Edited by eandslee
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Based on their intro: "A new low-fare airline from JetBlue...", and "...currently serves three nonstop destinations from RIC...", both of which are incorrect (the first one very obviously), I'd say this is a lazy reporting error.

VERY excited for the new destinations, especially the restoration of LAS service and SFO!!!  This is huge for RIC and RVA.

I'm yet to try Breeze, but it appears that RIC passengers have embraced the new airline.  I have a SFO-RIC flight scheduled on United in September right now (with a connection); I'm strongly considering cancelling that and trying out the SFO-RIC direct.

Edited by benstyree
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2 minutes ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

SFO? Let’s go!!!!

Game changing!  I'm interested to see how this route does.  When JetBlue announced its LAX routes last year, I heard a lot of people saying, "LAX, okay, but SFO...that would be awesome!"  I hope the hype I've heard translates into full aircraft!

2 minutes ago, benstyree said:

Also, in lesser-announced news, Breeze is now offering flights with connections (called a "Breezethru", cute, right?) in addition to the point-to-point routes.  RIC is showing up as a connecting airport for flights such as New Orleans to Hartford.  I may be wrong, but I'm not sure any airline has offered connections at RIC before.  This is obviously far from a hub, but a step in the right direction!

Haven't seen or read this yet, but I love the sound of it!  Have a link to this information?

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13 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Haven't seen or read this yet, but I love the sound of it!  Have a link to this information?

Saw it mentioned on another forum and confirmed it on Breeze website.  Just go on their site and do a search for that flight, it shows up as connecting (or, Breezing Thru) through RIC.

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1 hour ago, benstyree said:

Also, in lesser-announced news, Breeze is now offering flights with connections (called a "Breezethru", cute, right?) in addition to the point-to-point routes.  RIC is showing up as a connecting airport for flights such as New Orleans to Hartford.  I may be wrong, but I'm not sure any airline has offered connections at RIC before.  This is obviously far from a hub, but a step in the right direction!

This seems like it will create a lot more traffic around the airport if we have people laying over. Could help increase the food selection also. RIC seems like a logical layover point for breeze customers going from Providence heading to SFO as Providence has no direct connection to SFO.
 

Great news all around though. Seems like Breeze has ambitious plans for RIC which will hopefully bode well for international routes. We would have just as much service as New Orleans, which is a Breeze focus city under these expansion plans. Here’s to hoping Breeze has lots of success at RIC!

Edited by blopp1234
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Here's my theory on international routes at RIC.  We already know that the airport is fixing up/renovating/improving their international gate area where passengers are processed.  I also think they've submitted a request for international service (not sure what you call it).  So, there are 2 big signals to me right there.  There also have been hints by Breeze that they will be expanding service (probably late this year) to international destinations.  I think there is already some demand for international routes at RIC.  The two that come to mind immediately are Cancun, Mexico and Montego Bay, Jamaica.  The wild card here is this:  CoStar's HQ2 in Richmond will house their international research operations.  Could there be demand for international destinations because of this?  Quite possibly.  I'd like to know from CoStar just how much, if any, in-person research is required to do their jobs.  If there is a demand for it, I can see RIC gaining destinations that are frequented by CoStar employees for business trips.

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This was a good little read from Henrico Citizen regarding the new Breeze routes.  Specifically, the focus was on the nonstop flights to SFO - very significant for the businesses in Richmond who have connections to San Francisco!

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/breeze-airways-adds-nonstop-flights-to-5-new-cities-from-ric/

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32 minutes ago, eandslee said:

This was a good little read from Henrico Citizen regarding the new Breeze routes.  Specifically, the focus was on the nonstop flights to SFO - very significant for the businesses in Richmond who have connections to San Francisco!

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/breeze-airways-adds-nonstop-flights-to-5-new-cities-from-ric/

Love this portion of the article. This holds a LOT of promise for future developments along this route (and others).

From the Henrico Citizen article:

The flight to San Francisco will become the longest transcontinental flight from RIC to the West Coast and should help the region attract new businesses, according to Greater Richmond Partnership President and CEO Jennifer Wakefield.

“Companies that we recruit to the region want air access and these new routes will help tremendously,” she said. “This new direct flight to San Francisco allows Richmond-headquartered companies to make significant connections to their offices on the West Coast – for the first time ever.”

There are 20 Richmond-based businesses that operate facilities in San Francisco and 34 San Francisco-based firms that have a presence in the Richmond region.

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Just found a Breeze Thru with a Richmond stop between MSY and BDL.  There will be a stop in RIC, but no plane change.  I wonder if passengers even get off the plane?  Maybe they do...I'd like to think that they do anyway.  Should be interesting to see how this works out.

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4 hours ago, eandslee said:

Just a couple tid bits of information here regarding RIC and Breeze Airways:

I found out some of the "Breeze Thru" routes and RIC is a Breeze Thru for a couple of them (this may not be an all-inclusive list):

  • CHS-TPA (via BNA)
  • CHS-OKC (via TPA)
  • BDL-MSY (via RIC)
  • BDL-OAK (via BNA)
  • BDL-TUL (via BNA)
  • ISP-MSY (via CHS)
  • PVD-MSY (via JAX)
  • MSY-SAT (via XNA)
  • SFO-TPA (via RIC, CHS, and SDF)

With the RIC-SFO route being supplied by two metros (Tampa and Richmond to SFO and San Francisco and Richmond to TPA), I can see where this route will be successful since the aircraft will likely be more full (ridership will not solely rely on Richmond).  If the planes get too full, I can see Breeze separating these routes out eventually as demand grows in each city.  Interesting, but smart tactic.  Also, of note...I learned that "Breeze Thrus" are just a stop on the way to the final destination - some people stay on the plane, some people get off the plane, new passengers get on the plane, but folks starting from the original city and going to the ultimate destination will stay on the plane during the stop (there is no plane swap).  Not optimal in my opinion, but it might be okay if this tactic is used temporarily.  We'll see how this works out.  I've heard rumors that plane swaps (like a real hub) will come eventually (but who knows).

Next, someone on one of the airliner forums I monitor did a lot of work and made a spreadsheet of Breeze's performance from July-Dec last year for each station and Breeze as a whole (in terms of butts in seats).  For the first several months, RIC ranked 5th of all Breeze stations (not bad), but in December, it ranked 1st!!  You have to scroll to the right to see that stat.  Also, the tabs at the bottom show the performance for each individual station (you have to click the right arrow to see the RIC tab).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kJ964Ouk5gK8qhXvIfYOp_YDcmJ7HIL8/edit#gid=983612286

One glaring thing the stats point out, however: RIC is in the bottom half of Breeze airports in terms of flight volume. Now obviously, those airports that have focus city status get the lions share of flights. So it begs the question: what does RIC need to do to:

1.) very best case, get focus city status (from someone -not necessarily Breeze)

2.) worse case, significantly increase flight volume

Norfolk has double the flight volume - no doubt being a focus city helps. RIC too often is relegated to having to rely on "organic" growth. We should know by now that organic growth is always snail slow - and we never see big volume increases - everything is incremental over time. Yet other airports seem to get big jumps. What does RIC need to do differently? Is it an airport issue? An RVA-metro/market-size issue?

This "slow-but-steady" formula -- while it's technically 'working' - is utterly MADDENING. I will always harken back to when the CRAC turned Piedmont away, preferring "organic" and "slow-and-steady" growth (with no significant financial investment) to potentially explosive growth, but requiring substantial financial investment.

Seems like "slow and steady" is the Richmond way - and it drives me INSANE!! 

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