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Richmond International Airport


eandslee

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I was at the airport this past week flying in/out of the B concourse and I noticed that United has consolidated their operations so that they now use gates B1-B4 instead of having things split from there and further down the concourse near Delta. Continental was using a couple of gates in the B1-B4 area so it made sense to move the United gates up there as well as there was no room to move the Continental gates down to United.

With this move, I can easily envision a good area for Southwest/AirTran to move into if they decide to grow the number of flights out of RIC. I could see JetBlue taking AirTran's gates in the A concourse and Southwest/AirTran taking all of the empty gates in the B concourse. I think that would give them 6 gates which would be enough for a decent sized schedule. Guess we'll just have to wait and see if anything materializes.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Lou Llovio reports in his Times Dispatch Biz Buzz column that Richmond International Airport has hired The West Cary Group to market the airport and handle its brand advertising as well as Web and Mobile design.

West Cary Group was established in 2007 and has achieved prominence among Richmond's advertising shops.

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According to Peter Bacque in today's RTD, Southwest is outsoursing RIC ground workers' jobs.

Further into the story, Southwest spokesman Paul Flannigan reports that scheduling for transitioning from Air Tran to Southwest service is "fluid" and that the low cost airline is committed to Richmond.

Aviation consultant, Mike Boyd, president of Boyd Group International, says, "you can pretty much bet on Richmond being a major Southwest city. That is one gold mine they are not going to abandon."

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...s-j-ar-2008209/

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Peter Bacque at the Times Dispatch reports traffic at RIC was up by a slim 0.5% in May of 2012 over the same month last year.

But, for the first eleven months of the current fiscal year, overall traffic is down by 3.3%.

I suspect Mr. Bacque will post a more detailed column on the subject tomorrow.

From this aftrnoon's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...tly-ar-2014873/

Edited by burt
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New York area airports will see a reduction in service to and from RIC from the present 18 daily peak-day flights to 13 daily beginning next week. And the average 7-day advance round trip fare has risen from about $150 when Jet Blue was flying the route in 2010 to approximately $780 in 2012.

By contrast, AMTRAK business class on off-peak days costs $237 RT (10% more if you're not a senior :) )

And I know someone who traveled both ways last week between New York and Richmond on the Chinatown bus, so despite rumors to the contrary, it's still operating.

Not likely, but maybe Jet Blue will re-instate service on the route. Or perhaps SW will begin non-stop service to and from LGA.

From Peter Bacque in today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...tly-ar-2014873/

Edited by burt
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Something else I saw on Facebook was that the AirTran/SW gates are being switched from the A Concourse to the B Concourse to accommodate the A Concourse expansion! I'm thinking that the A Concourse is going to get the same treatment the B Concourse got several years ago. All this equals more gates and a larger airport! I'm trying to confirm this with Troy Bell on Facebook, but no answer yet.

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On an unrelated note, I took one of the few international flights into RIC last night (the 5:00 p.m. Air Canada flight from Toronto). Everything went well, but I was blown away by the size of the plane for such a long flight. This is a 1 hour 45 minute flight in a plane so small there is no stewardess and no door separating the flight deck from the passengers. I was in the front seat and could have leaned up and dope-slapped both of the pilots while keeping my pivot foot.

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On an unrelated note, I took one of the few international flights into RIC last night (the 5:00 p.m. Air Canada flight from Toronto). Everything went well, but I was blown away by the size of the plane for such a long flight. This is a 1 hour 45 minute flight in a plane so small there is no stewardess and no door separating the flight deck from the passengers. I was in the front seat and could have leaned up and dope-slapped both of the pilots while keeping my pivot foot.

Yes, it is very small plane that goes to Toronto. I guess having the service with such a small plane is better than not having the service at all. I've actually been on something similar or possibly smaller on Cape Air up in Maine. You get weighed as you get on the plane so they know exactly how much the "cargo" weighs and if you're lucky you can actually sit in the co-pilot seat!

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Wow, what a pitiful little plane flying Richmond's only International route.

Crashvt02, this is off topic, but I noted in another posting that you live in the Midlothian area and I gather you fly frequently. How do you get to RIC? Do you use a combination of Chippenham and Pocahontas Parkways to the airport connector, or another route? And do you think many flyers living on the southside use the big bridge route with its 3 buck toll?

If not via the big bridge, how do you get there and what are the times on the various routes?

Edited by burt
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Wow, what a pitiful little plane flying Richmond's only International route.

Crashvt02, this is off topic, but I noted in another posting that you live in the Midlothian area and I gather you fly frequently. How do you get to RIC? Do you use a combination of Chippenham and Pocahontas Parkways to the airport connector, or another route? And do you think many flyers living on the southside use the big bridge route with its 3 buck toll?

If not via the big bridge, how do you get there and what are the times on the various routes?

Burt, you're right, I do live in Midlothian and travel 2-3 times a month. I live in Salisbury which is off of Robious Rd (halfway between Huguenot and Rt. 288). While techically on the "Southside" I am on the northern part of Chesterfield County. I typically take Robious to Huguenot to Chippenham to the Powhite/Downtown Expressway to 64 East. When I am on the very early flights this route only takes about 30 minutes. Later in the day when I know I'll have to deal with traffic I give myself 45 minutes to make the trip on the same route. Unfortunately, there really isn't a very good way to get from that part of town to the airport. There are some alternate routes from where I live. There is Midlo Tnpk to the Powhite but that can be trouble with all of the stoplights. You can also do 288 to 64, but that is really out of the way. I would only do that if I knew there was an accident or construction on my normal route or if I was going to have to pick up somebody in the West End on my way to the airport.

I'm not sure whether a lot of people take the bridge and pay the toll or not. If it's the most direct route for where I lived, I suppose I would suck it up and pay the toll. No point in going way out of my way to avoid the toll, especially if I am travelling on business and will get reimbursed anyway. But if I'm travelling for a personal trip, and I know I'm going to get hit with $100+ of airline fees, I might rethink taking the bridge so I can save a little bit of money. Then again, what's another $6 in tolls when you're paying over $1000+ for a vacation?

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Wow, what a pitiful little plane flying Richmond's only International route.

Plane snob! :dontknow: That "pitiful little plane" connects travelers to a world hub at YYZ and happens to perform well even during inclement weather, as evidenced by AC's completion factor during some months where we see snow shutting down other operations.

FYI, Bahamasair probably considers the RIC-FPO run to also be an international route.

Flack4RIC

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Richmond International is getting an expansion?? How come any of the local news haven't reported it?? Was it news just revealed yesterday?

More ramp for plane parking, both RON aircraft and diversions. This expansion was an item in the recent Master Plan update. Someday, that same ramp may support an expansion of Concourse A. It's all driven by demand.

Flack4RIC

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Something else I saw on Facebook was that the AirTran/SW gates are being switched from the A Concourse to the B Concourse to accommodate the A Concourse expansion! I'm thinking that the A Concourse is going to get the same treatment the B Concourse got several years ago. All this equals more gates and a larger airport! I'm trying to confirm this with Troy Bell on Facebook, but no answer yet.

Not sure what your response metric is, but the info was provided on FB shortly after being requested. AirTran has moved to B11 & B13, using a Southwest-style podium located between the two. To accommodate the ramp work near Concourse A, AA will move from A1/A3 to A2/A4.

Ramp expansion now (immediate need), concourse expansion later (years from now - it's all driven by demand).

Flack4RIC

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Crash -- aren't you still paying $1.50 for both tolls to go the downtown expressway route as opposed to the $2.75 (off-peak) toll on the Pocahontas Pkwy?

Yes, I'm still paying tolls by taking the Powhite and Downtown Expressway. Honestly, I don't pay much attention to tolls in Richmond. I use my SmartTag and just go on through. It's just part of getting around town. I don't go out of my way to avoid them.

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Plane snob! :dontknow: That "pitiful little plane" connects travelers to a world hub at YYZ and happens to perform well even during inclement weather, as evidenced by AC's completion factor during some months where we see snow shutting down other operations.

FYI, Bahamasair probably considers the RIC-FPO run to also be an international route.

Flack4RIC

I'm a big airplane geek and purposely book flights so I can try out new routes and aircraft. But you have to admit that the plane to Toronto is awfully small and can be uncomfortable for that long of a flight. It's a similar deal with the non-stop to Houston. That's almost a 3 hour flight on a 50-seater. While I don't hold out much hope that Toronto will get upgraded to a bigger plane, I think that Houston will at least get upgraded to a larger regional jet (CRJ-700) at some point especially if Southwest starts a flight from Richmond to Houston.

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