Richmond International Airport

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, blopp1234 said:

They need it based on their airport layout. Part of what makes RIC convenient is that the walk from the curb to gates isn’t far, and the walk from gates to baggage claim is pretty quick. Therefore, unless a new terminal is built further away from the existing terminal (which even if we have a lot of growth on par with Austin, would be decades before it would even be considered), or a midfield satellite concourse is built (which isn’t in the RIC master plan for growth), a people mover won’t ever be needed. There are massive airports, such as Portland, Austin, Charlotte, BWI and even Boston currently don’t have people movers, so they aren’t necessary when satellite concourse are built or there are long distances between gates and the entrance/exit of the airport. 
 

Also, the people mover proposed at ORF (please correct me if I’m wrong) will just be a moving pedestrian walkway, as I’m almost positive that less than $6 million wouldn’t get a system similar to LAX, O’Hare or DFW. 
 

Also, not trying to get all kumbaya, but there’s no need to have any bashing of ORF and Hampton Roads, and likewise with that forum towards RIC and RVA. I get some of us are competitive (I am guilty of this), but there really is no reason to talk negatively or eye role whenever something good happens to the other metro area.So what if ORF get a moving walkway from their main terminal to the baggage claim, we don’t have to tear them down for it. We have things going for us that should be focused on (ie. Increased west coast service, new international customs area) that we should be celebrating over tearing them down, while they have good things going too (moving walkway to baggage area, terminal and concourse modernization and concourse a expansion).

 

No need to tear down fellow Virginians when we can each celebrate what each city and airport are doing.

 

Sorry for the rant

Goodness me... It doth appear that I need to make my cheek bulge out even further (and even MORE painfully) than I did earlier when I jammed my tongue firmly against it in eyerolling ORF's moving sidewalk.

You DO realize I was being facetious, no? 

Relax, brother - not hating on or throwing shade at our brethren down along "64-East" (anyone recall that from the Renegades/Admirals rivalry of yesteryear?)

Oh - and a personal opinion about airport moving sidewalks - I have mixed reviews about the ones at ORD here. The ones inside the terminals are, IMNSHO, a total joke. They're slow as molasses - and are basically good for kids to jump on and pretend they're playing "Airport - the Amusement Park Ride" ... Ugh...  HOWEVER - the underground group that goes to United's midfield terminal is actually really good. It moves at a pretty respectable clip - and you wanna talk about "needed" - Jesus -the distance between the two terminals is obscene. Wow... 

Edited February 28, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Niccckk]

13 hours ago, eandslee said:

Some good news for 3 Virginia airports to include Richmond International Airport.  Looks like Dulles International and Norfolk International are also recipients of federal funding.  For RIC, $4M will be used to replace 21 jet bridges that are beyond their useful life.  See details in the article linked below:

Would be amazing if the 21 old jetbridges are replaced with new glass jetbridges 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Niccckk

[eandslee]

3 minutes ago, Niccckk said:

Would be amazing if the 21 old jetbridges are replaced with new glass jetbridges

Yes!  Love the glass jet bridges!  Flew to Santa Barbara, CA a few weeks ago and they had glass jet bridges there and they were cool!

[Niccckk]

4 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Yes!  Love the glass jet bridges!  Flew to Santa Barbara, CA a few weeks ago and they had glass jet bridges there and they were cool!

It'd fit in really well with the airports theme of glass everywhere haha

[Flood Zone]

Glass jet bridges sound like the type of jet bridges you really don't want to break!

[I miss RVA]

I seem to recall seeing "airport traveler" videos on YouTube and some of the big truly international airports in places like Dubai have the glass jet bridges. It would look REALLY cool at RIC!

QUESTION 1: Will $4 million get us 21 of them?

QUESTION 2: With 21 new jet bridges (regardless of type thereof) given that the Concourse A expansion added six gates (and thus six new jet bridges) - that would mean that all of RIC's jet bridges would be brand spanking new, no?

[wrldcoupe4]

Glass is really expensive. Gonna assume metal for these.

[eandslee]

A cool and recent video Richmond International Airport made regarding its 95th Anniversary:

Check it out here:

 

[I miss RVA]

I LOVED his comment - "we're at about 4.5 million passengers and we could probably go another third more before we have to think about expanding the facility."

Hmmm... that means we need to get that annual figure to just a nickel or dime under 6 million - 5,985,000. So we were technically/officially a couple of pennies shy of 4.2 M for this year, no? Okay - another 1.7M passengers to go and then it just might be...

EXPANSION TIME!!!!!!!!!! 

Edited March 1, 2023 by I miss RVA

[eandslee]

I love the fact that Axios Richmond is getting the word out about flights, deals, and other news at the airport:

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2023/03/02/cheap-richmond-flights-spring-break-2023

[I miss RVA]

2 hours ago, eandslee said:

I love the fact that Axios Richmond is getting the word out about flights, deals, and other news at the airport:

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2023/03/02/cheap-richmond-flights-spring-break-2023

Nice lead story. This is exactly what we need to drum up business and get those extra 1.7 million annual passengers passing through RIC's gates to get to that 6 million mark intimated by the chap in the airport video. I hope the days of TV8 touting flights out of ORF (and encouraging CVA region travelers to fly out of Norfolk) or of the esteemed Dr. Slipek encouraging CVA travelers to fly out of Dulles are behind us. We don't need locals in the Richmond media pulling for the competition over our own. More focus on the homefront is what's needed. Let's let the competition fend for themselves. We don't need to tout them, ballyhoo them, root for them or champion them.

We must tout, ballyhoo, root for and champion out own. Period.

Guys, let's stay... RVA STRONG!

[eandslee]

I caught the Breeze Airways flight from Richmond landing at Las Vegas  on the live airport cam for Las Vegas just a few minutes ago!  Here’s a screenshot of the flight coming in - it was great!  A little fuzzy picture, but you can make it out okay. Proud moment for me:

Edited March 2, 2023 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

3 hours ago, eandslee said:

I caught the Breeze Airways flight from Richmond landing at Las Vegas  on the live airport cam for Las Vegas just a few minutes ago!  Here’s a screenshot of the flight coming in - it was great!  A little fuzzy picture, but you can make it out okay. Proud moment for me:

NICE!!!

Looking forward to the day we can drop the "VA" portion of references to Richmond. That's a particular pet peeve of mine (I know - take a number right? ) -- seriously, it makes me nuts that quite a few other cities that were once RVA's size have reached a level of notoriety or largeness that they no longer need the state as an identifier. Can't wait for Richmond to be referenced sans state.

[eandslee]

The scene this morning at RIC just before the rush. According to a good friend of mine, 8,000+ passengers will go through RIC’s doors today!

Credit to Mr. Tingfah for the pics:

 

[Downtowner]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

The scene this morning at RIC just before the rush. According to a good friend of mine, 8,000+ passengers will go through RIC’s doors today!

Credit to Mr. Tingfah for the pics:

 

Is that a record for one days worth of passengers? What’s the most we have experienced in one day at ric?

[eandslee]

1 minute ago, Downtowner said:

Is that a record for one days worth of passengers? What’s the most we have experienced in one day at ric?

Don’t think that is a record, but it’s definitely a number you would see just before the pandemic (at the height of RIC’s growth).  Would love to see double that number soon!

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, eandslee said:

The scene this morning at RIC just before the rush. According to a good friend of mine, 8,000+ passengers will go through RIC’s doors today!

Credit to Mr. Tingfah for the pics:

 

Holy moly!! This looks the way an airport is SUPPOSED to look! What an awesome change from times past when it seemed the concourses were devoid of planes.

And 8K passengers today - prolly not a record, but it's pretty robust! HOWEVER - that would get us to only 2,920,000 if extrapolated over 365 days - and we've been above 4 million annually now for a hot minute. Am I missing something?

[blopp1234]

16 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Holy moly!! This looks the way an airport is SUPPOSED to look! What an awesome change from times past when it seemed the concourses were devoid of planes.

And 8K passengers today - prolly not a record, but it's pretty robust! HOWEVER - that would get us to only 2,920,000 if extrapolated over 365 days - and we've been above 4 million annually now for a hot minute. Am I missing something?

February is usually one of the lowest travel months for all airports as it’s cold and people are not vacationing at that point. I’m sure the airport hits 12,000 a day during the summer months and around November and December.

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, blopp1234 said:

February is usually one of the lowest travel months for all airports as it’s cold and people are not vacationing at that point. I’m sure the airport hits 12,000 a day during the summer months and around November and December.

That makes a lot of sense. 

[Downtowner]

So based on October of last year which saw 388,882 passengers come through I did the math and you got an average of 12,544 a day for the month of October. I’d love to see us each an average of 15,000 to 20k a day at some point. That would put us around the 5-7 million passenger range a year. To get to 10 million a year you would need at least 833,000 a month to get that.  But just to get 5-7 million passengers a year would be a huge step for us. 

[eandslee]

I love that there is a good discussion about international flights at RIC happening right now on Reddit (r/rva)…and I didn’t start the conversation!  Shows me that many others are taking notice to RIC and hopefully will use RIC for all their air travel needs!  Bring on the people and let’s fill every flight to the gills!!

It also helps that Axios Richmond just featured a story about cheap fares from RIC on Breeze Airways.  Need all the publicity we can get!  TV news, newspapers, other online publications…ahem…(cough, cough)…RBS…please!!

Edited March 6, 2023 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

4 hours ago, eandslee said:

I love that there is a good discussion about international flights at RIC happening right now on Reddit (r/rva)…and I didn’t start the conversation!  Shows me that many others are taking notice to RIC and hopefully will use RIC for all their air travel needs!  Bring on the people and let’s fill every flight to the gills!!

It also helps that Axios Richmond just featured a story about cheap fares from RIC on Breeze Airways.  Need all the publicity we can get!  TV news, newspapers, other online publications…ahem…(cough, cough)…RBS…please!!

Read through some of the Reddit commentaries - it's a sad state of affairs that there are STILL so many who pooh-pooh the idea of RIC becoming "anything more than small/medium" without some kind of fracture of cosmic forces. Jesus Christ - the airport has made more strides in the last handful of years even WITH Covid setting everyone back than it had done in DECADES prior. I just don't get the attitude of some who think it's impractical to envision RIC - and by that logic, RVA itself - being anything of any size or stature.

THAT really ticks me off -  because with that kind of self-defeating attitude, HOW do we break free from these small-minded shackles that have been holding us back for over 50 years? It's ridiculous. 

To these naysayers - I counter with - "RICHMOND KEEPS RISING" and "RVA STRONG".

They are entitled to their opinions - we all have them just like we all have tailpipes (with or without chrome extenders). Let's keep our eyes on the prize, boys. A MUCH BIGGER, BETTER Richmond.  And part of it includes a MUCH BIGGER, BETTER RIC. 

The future is bright - brighter than I've EVER seen it for this city, my entire life. It's never shone like it's shining right now. And - again, quoting Karen and Richard Carpenter - "We've only just begun."

RICHMOND KEEPS RISING

RVA STRONG

Edited March 7, 2023 by I miss RVA

[eandslee]

8 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

Read through some of the Reddit commentaries - it's a sad state of affairs that there are STILL so many who pooh-pooh the idea of RIC becoming "anything more than small/medium" without some kind of fracture of cosmic forces. Jesus Christ - the airport has made more strides in the last handful of years even WITH Covid setting everyone back than it had done in DECADES prior. I just don't get the attitude of some who think it's impractical to envision RIC - and by that logic, RVA itself - being anything of any size or stature.

THAT really ticks me off -  because with that kind of self-defeating attitude, HOW do we break free from these small-minded shackles that have been holding us back for over 50 years? It's ridiculous. 

To these naysayers - I counter with - "RICHMOND KEEPS RISING" and "RVA STRONG".

They are entitled to their opinions - we all have them just like we all have tailpipes (with or without chrome extenders). Let's keep our eyes on the prize, boys. A MUCH BIGGER, BETTER Richmond.  And part of it includes a MUCH BIGGER, BETTER RIC. 

The future is bright - brighter than I've EVER seen it for this city, my entire life. It's never shone like it's shining right now. And - again, quoting Karen and Richard Carpenter - "We've only just begun."

RICHMOND KEEPS RISING

RVA STRONG

I know what you mean.  I keep trying to remain positive no matter what someone says (i.e. -  my comment that I'll never give up hope!).  It's these folks who've been around a very long time in RVA and have seen nothing positive happen...ever (the opposite even)!  Their thought:  Why would anything positive happen in RVA now?  It will always be the same old sleepy town that will forever live in every other city's shadow.  I can see why they may think that, but I'll never subscribe to it.  To me, anything can change...yes, even to the sleepy town of RVA...including its airport (RIC)!

[I miss RVA]

28 minutes ago, eandslee said:

I know what you mean.  I keep trying to remain positive no matter what someone says (i.e. -  my comment that I'll never give up hope!).  It's these folks who've been around a very long time in RVA and have seen nothing positive happen...ever (the opposite even)!  Their thought:  Why would anything positive happen in RVA now?  It will always be the same old sleepy town that will forever live in every other city's shadow.  I can see why they may think that, but I'll never subscribe to it.  To me, anything can change...yes, even to the sleepy town of RVA...including its airport (RIC)!

I thought your comments on the Reddit thread were 100% spot on. Very well said. You kinda started to win over one or two of the naysayers. 

For the life of me, I just don't understand the position of the naysayers. Are they saying it reflexively? Are they denizens of the county who want to put the city down at every opportunity? Is this what they've been taught to believe -- that RVA is a "nothingburger" city that will constantly live in the shadow of (pick your regional city of choice)? Are they time-capsule adherents who DON'T WANT RVA to grow prosper, get bigger -- and their criticism reveals their innate desire to keep RVA as small as possible? (And what better way to do that than to truncate the growth of the airport! And if they can't directly truncate the airport's growth, why they can CERTAINLY dismiss said growth and pooh pooh any thoughts of it getting any bigger...)

Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. At all.

[eandslee]

14 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

I thought your comments on the Reddit thread were 100% spot on. Very well said. You kinda started to win over one or two of the naysayers. 

For the life of me, I just don't understand the position of the naysayers. Are they saying it reflexively? Are they denizens of the county who want to put the city down at every opportunity? Is this what they've been taught to believe -- that RVA is a "nothingburger" city that will constantly live in the shadow of (pick your regional city of choice)? Are they time-capsule adherents who DON'T WANT RVA to grow prosper, get bigger -- and their criticism reveals their innate desire to keep RVA as small as possible? (And what better way to do that than to truncate the growth of the airport! And if they can't directly truncate the airport's growth, why they can CERTAINLY dismiss said growth and pooh pooh any thoughts of it getting any bigger...)

Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. At all.

Not sure one answer fits every naysayer.  It's probably a combination of each possibility you mentioned above.  Either way, I think that "defeatest" thought can be squashed if they actually see/witness positives with regard to RVA (the City,  metro area, the airport).  When positive change becomes so real it "slaps them in the face," that's when they may realize that Richmond can and just might change (i.e. become more than just the sleepy town it's always been).  But then beware because there will ALWAYS be naysayers even when it is blatantly before their face indicating otherwise.  You'll never win them all no matter what happens...very similar to the NIMBYs.

Edited March 7, 2023 by eandslee