Gulfstream500 wrote:

It appears that the Delta RIC-DTW early morning run and DTW-RIC late night run have been swapped to mainline starting in March. Appears to be mostly a mix of A319/320s plus B717s. I think this is the first time that RIC will see 717s on the schedule since the early days of COVID (for a few short months, DL had RIC-ATL on 717s) and AirTran back in 2014ish. Worth noting, however, that this change appears to only be active until RIC-MSP restarts in June.

hooforce wrote:

Here's what RIC is getting:

From Richmond, VA, to:

Jacksonville, FL (Thurs and Sun, starting May 19, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $99*);
San Francisco, CA** (Wed and Sat, starting May 25, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*);
Hartford, CT (Fri and Mon, starting June 3, Nice from $39* one way; Nicer from $89*; summer seasonal route);
Las Vegas, NV** (Thurs and Sun, starting June 9, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*); and
Providence, RI (Thurs and Sun, starting June 30, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $89*).

hooforce wrote:

Here's what RIC is getting:

From Richmond, VA, to:

Jacksonville, FL (Thurs and Sun, starting May 19, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $99*);
San Francisco, CA** (Wed and Sat, starting May 25, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*);
Hartford, CT (Fri and Mon, starting June 3, Nice from $39* one way; Nicer from $89*; summer seasonal route);
Las Vegas, NV** (Thurs and Sun, starting June 9, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*); and
Providence, RI (Thurs and Sun, starting June 30, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $89*).

atcsundevil wrote:

hooforce wrote:

Here's what RIC is getting:

From Richmond, VA, to:

Jacksonville, FL (Thurs and Sun, starting May 19, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $99*);
San Francisco, CA** (Wed and Sat, starting May 25, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*);
Hartford, CT (Fri and Mon, starting June 3, Nice from $39* one way; Nicer from $89*; summer seasonal route);
Las Vegas, NV** (Thurs and Sun, starting June 9, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*); and
Providence, RI (Thurs and Sun, starting June 30, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $89*).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatod ... 9347904002

That's one heck of an expansion. SFO and LAS are great adds. Now they just need PHX and LAX.

ElroyJetson wrote:

hooforce wrote:

Here's what RIC is getting:

From Richmond, VA, to:

Jacksonville, FL (Thurs and Sun, starting May 19, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $99*);
San Francisco, CA** (Wed and Sat, starting May 25, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*);
Hartford, CT (Fri and Mon, starting June 3, Nice from $39* one way; Nicer from $89*; summer seasonal route);
Las Vegas, NV** (Thurs and Sun, starting June 9, Nice from $99* one way; Nicer from $189*; Nicest from $199*); and
Providence, RI (Thurs and Sun, starting June 30, Nice from $49* one way; Nicer from $89*).

Great news. Thanks for the post. RIC before Covid was one of the fastest growing airports in the US. Nice to see the expansion.

hooforce wrote:

RIC already has a nonstop LAX route, but is served by JetBlue. That route kicks off again on 4 or 5 May if memory serves and will be daily until about 9 June. Then it shifts to 4 days a week (all on A320s). So, that means RIC will have three west coast nonstop destinations. PHX would be an awesome addition! Also on my wish list are SLC, SEA, and SAN.

ODS10 wrote:

Not sure if this was posted anywhere but it looks like Delta has added ROA-LGA twice a day starting in June on a Crj-900. Seems like a lot of lift given that pre pandemic it was twice a day on an Erj-145 I believe.

vatveng wrote:

ODS10 wrote:

Not sure if this was posted anywhere but it looks like Delta has added ROA-LGA twice a day starting in June on a Crj-900. Seems like a lot of lift given that pre pandemic it was twice a day on an Erj-145 I believe.

How much competition did it have pre-pandemic? It could be Delta backfilling capacity that AA/UA flew in 2019 but don't anymore.

jplatts wrote:

RIC and ORF can probably support nonstop service to AUS on at least a less-than-daily basis with RIC and ORF being two of the top remaining markets in the contiguous U.S. that don't currently have any nonstop service to AUS.

Here were the Q4 2021 PDEW's of AUS-RIC/ORF:
AUS-RIC - 66
AUS-ORF/PHF - 53

AUS-RIC had higher PDEW's in Q4 2021 than a few routes out of AUS that currently have nonstop service out of AUS on AA, AS, or G4.

AUS-ORF/RIC are both within the range of regional jets, and AA has operated regional jets on some routes that are longer than AUS-ORF.

The CLE/CAK market is the only contiguous U.S. market without nonstop service to AUS that had higher PDEW's to AUS in Q4 2021 than RIC did.

Is RIC likely to see nonstop service added to AUS by G4, AA, WN, or NK with RIC being the #2 remaining market in the contiguous U.S. (by PDEW's to AUS) that doesn't currently have any nonstop service to AUS?

bluefltspecial wrote:

Anyone else notice that Delta has pretty much nothing but 757s scheduled on ATL-RIC/ORF for next month?
Also, Delta dropped CHO down to 2x CRJ 1x CR9 on ATL-CHO but kept 3x CR9 on ATL-LGA which makes no sense to me

ahj2000 wrote:

jplatts wrote:

RIC and ORF can probably support nonstop service to AUS on at least a less-than-daily basis with RIC and ORF being two of the top remaining markets in the contiguous U.S. that don't currently have any nonstop service to AUS.

Here were the Q4 2021 PDEW's of AUS-RIC/ORF:
AUS-RIC - 66
AUS-ORF/PHF - 53

AUS-RIC had higher PDEW's in Q4 2021 than a few routes out of AUS that currently have nonstop service out of AUS on AA, AS, or G4.

AUS-ORF/RIC are both within the range of regional jets, and AA has operated regional jets on some routes that are longer than AUS-ORF.

The CLE/CAK market is the only contiguous U.S. market without nonstop service to AUS that had higher PDEW's to AUS in Q4 2021 than RIC did.

Is RIC likely to see nonstop service added to AUS by G4, AA, WN, or NK with RIC being the #2 remaining market in the contiguous U.S. (by PDEW's to AUS) that doesn't currently have any nonstop service to AUS?

I could see RIC-AUS either 2-3/week on G4 or 5/7 on AA. Not that crazy of an add for either, seeing what they've been doing out of AUS. Space at AUS is the issue.

hooforce wrote:

bluefltspecial wrote:

Anyone else notice that Delta has pretty much nothing but 757s scheduled on ATL-RIC/ORF for next month?
Also, Delta dropped CHO down to 2x CRJ 1x CR9 on ATL-CHO but kept 3x CR9 on ATL-LGA which makes no sense to me

757s on the ATL-RIC route?! That's amazing! Has that ever happened before? I don't think RIC has ever had regular passenger service on a 757. Sure, RIC has seen many 757s (ie Cargo and the occasional charter), but not for standard passenger service. That's big news! Thanks for the heads up!

hooforce wrote:

bluefltspecial wrote:

Anyone else notice that Delta has pretty much nothing but 757s scheduled on ATL-RIC/ORF for next month?
Also, Delta dropped CHO down to 2x CRJ 1x CR9 on ATL-CHO but kept 3x CR9 on ATL-LGA which makes no sense to me

757s on the ATL-RIC route?! That's amazing! Has that ever happened before? I don't think RIC has ever had regular passenger service on a 757. Sure, RIC has seen many 757s (ie Cargo and the occasional charter), but not for standard passenger service. That's big news! Thanks for the heads up!

DCA350 wrote:

Wow RIC is really booming.. I'm in the DMV so RIC is a little beyond my catchment, but it's really impressive to see the growth.. I'm interested in trying Breeze and ticket prices from DC to Vegas are sky high, outside of the ULCCs which I don't fly.. If the price is right I'll make the trek.

atcsundevil wrote:

DCA350 wrote:

Wow RIC is really booming.. I'm in the DMV so RIC is a little beyond my catchment, but it's really impressive to see the growth.. I'm interested in trying Breeze and ticket prices from DC to Vegas are sky high, outside of the ULCCs which I don't fly.. If the price is right I'll make the trek.

Statements like this really make me laugh (not at you!) — RIC used to be one of the most expensive airports in the country with such poor connectivity, but it seems like it's all turned around so quickly. It's really telling when people from the DC area consider driving to RIC when I spent years growing up in RIC doing just the opposite. It really speaks to how much they've accomplished in the past 15ish years. They still really need to sort out their lousy runway configuration and build in more ramp space, but aside from that they've really managed to put a lot of the right pieces together. It's a great city that's always deserved a great airport, and it seems like that's finally happening.

atcsundevil wrote:

DCA350 wrote:

Wow RIC is really booming.. I'm in the DMV so RIC is a little beyond my catchment, but it's really impressive to see the growth.. I'm interested in trying Breeze and ticket prices from DC to Vegas are sky high, outside of the ULCCs which I don't fly.. If the price is right I'll make the trek.

Statements like this really make me laugh (not at you!) — RIC used to be one of the most expensive airports in the country with such poor connectivity, but it seems like it's all turned around so quickly. It's really telling when people from the DC area consider driving to RIC when I spent years growing up in RIC doing just the opposite. It really speaks to how much they've accomplished in the past 15ish years. They still really need to sort out their lousy runway configuration and build in more ramp space, but aside from that they've really managed to put a lot of the right pieces together. It's a great city that's always deserved a great airport, and it seems like that's finally happening.

ElroyJetson wrote:

atcsundevil wrote:

DCA350 wrote:

Wow RIC is really booming.. I'm in the DMV so RIC is a little beyond my catchment, but it's really impressive to see the growth.. I'm interested in trying Breeze and ticket prices from DC to Vegas are sky high, outside of the ULCCs which I don't fly.. If the price is right I'll make the trek.

Statements like this really make me laugh (not at you!) — RIC used to be one of the most expensive airports in the country with such poor connectivity, but it seems like it's all turned around so quickly. It's really telling when people from the DC area consider driving to RIC when I spent years growing up in RIC doing just the opposite. It really speaks to how much they've accomplished in the past 15ish years. They still really need to sort out their lousy runway configuration and build in more ramp space, but aside from that they've really managed to put a lot of the right pieces together. It's a great city that's always deserved a great airport, and it seems like that's finally happening.

I just want echo your points. RIC had some of the highest fares in the country for years. They brought in Troy Bell as the airport marketing director and he is the one who really turned things around. Getting Air Tran in was the first step. I intentionally flew them at every opportunity because RIC needed an LCC to induce some real competition. Getting Jet Blue was another break through. Now with Spirit, Jet Blue, Breeze, WN things are really moving in the right direction.

And as a quick example, I just booked a ticket for my sister on B6 from MCO-RIC. Roundtrip fare with checked bag was under $250. NK was slightly lower but B6 had better departure/ arrival times. The competition has been a God send. I really think the aggressive marketing by Troy Bell was the major difference.

atcsundevil wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

atcsundevil wrote:

Statements like this really make me laugh (not at you!) — RIC used to be one of the most expensive airports in the country with such poor connectivity, but it seems like it's all turned around so quickly. It's really telling when people from the DC area consider driving to RIC when I spent years growing up in RIC doing just the opposite. It really speaks to how much they've accomplished in the past 15ish years. They still really need to sort out their lousy runway configuration and build in more ramp space, but aside from that they've really managed to put a lot of the right pieces together. It's a great city that's always deserved a great airport, and it seems like that's finally happening.

I just want echo your points. RIC had some of the highest fares in the country for years. They brought in Troy Bell as the airport marketing director and he is the one who really turned things around. Getting Air Tran in was the first step. I intentionally flew them at every opportunity because RIC needed an LCC to induce some real competition. Getting Jet Blue was another break through. Now with Spirit, Jet Blue, Breeze, WN things are really moving in the right direction.

And as a quick example, I just booked a ticket for my sister on B6 from MCO-RIC. Roundtrip fare with checked bag was under $250. NK was slightly lower but B6 had better departure/ arrival times. The competition has been a God send. I really think the aggressive marketing by Troy Bell was the major difference.

Definitely. AirTran coming to RIC was a big deal. I loved flying them, and I still miss them. Having JetBlue was a good get as well, but they seemed to stagnate in the market for a long time until recently. It's been years since I've flown from RIC — how are they doing on gate space?

hooforce wrote:

atcsundevil wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

I just want echo your points. RIC had some of the highest fares in the country for years. They brought in Troy Bell as the airport marketing director and he is the one who really turned things around. Getting Air Tran in was the first step. I intentionally flew them at every opportunity because RIC needed an LCC to induce some real competition. Getting Jet Blue was another break through. Now with Spirit, Jet Blue, Breeze, WN things are really moving in the right direction.

And as a quick example, I just booked a ticket for my sister on B6 from MCO-RIC. Roundtrip fare with checked bag was under $250. NK was slightly lower but B6 had better departure/ arrival times. The competition has been a God send. I really think the aggressive marketing by Troy Bell was the major difference.

Definitely. AirTran coming to RIC was a big deal. I loved flying them, and I still miss them. Having JetBlue was a good get as well, but they seemed to stagnate in the market for a long time until recently. It's been years since I've flown from RIC — how are they doing on gate space?

RIC just built and opened 6 new gates onto Concourse A and now has a total of 28 gates overall. As for apron space, RIC is currently expanding a very large apron space on the south side of Concourse B. In addition, the airport is in the process moving the cargo area from the south side to the east side of the airport (freeing up even more apron space on the southside). There is also a study ongoing involving exploring options to move the Army National Guard on the east side to somewhere else on the premises opening up that space for a parallel runway according to the airport's master plan. So, there is quite a bit of movement going on at the airport to improve its operations.

I live in NOVA (Springfield) and I have gone down to RIC several times to catch flights to Florida on Allegiant because the price was so cheap. It's good to hear that others are thinking about doing the same. Brings tears to my eyes to hear that RIC may be drawing passengers in from NOVA (Richmond is my hometown)! Simply astounding!

hooforce wrote:

atcsundevil wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

I just want echo your points. RIC had some of the highest fares in the country for years. They brought in Troy Bell as the airport marketing director and he is the one who really turned things around. Getting Air Tran in was the first step. I intentionally flew them at every opportunity because RIC needed an LCC to induce some real competition. Getting Jet Blue was another break through. Now with Spirit, Jet Blue, Breeze, WN things are really moving in the right direction.

And as a quick example, I just booked a ticket for my sister on B6 from MCO-RIC. Roundtrip fare with checked bag was under $250. NK was slightly lower but B6 had better departure/ arrival times. The competition has been a God send. I really think the aggressive marketing by Troy Bell was the major difference.

Definitely. AirTran coming to RIC was a big deal. I loved flying them, and I still miss them. Having JetBlue was a good get as well, but they seemed to stagnate in the market for a long time until recently. It's been years since I've flown from RIC — how are they doing on gate space?

RIC just built and opened 6 new gates onto Concourse A and now has a total of 28 gates overall. As for apron space, RIC is currently expanding a very large apron space on the south side of Concourse B. In addition, the airport is in the process moving the cargo area from the south side to the east side of the airport (freeing up even more apron space on the southside). There is also a study ongoing involving exploring options to move the Army National Guard on the east side to somewhere else on the premises opening up that space for a parallel runway according to the airport's master plan. So, there is quite a bit of movement going on at the airport to improve its operations.

I live in NOVA (Springfield) and I have gone down to RIC several times to catch flights to Florida on Allegiant because the price was so cheap. It's good to hear that others are thinking about doing the same. Brings tears to my eyes to hear that RIC may be drawing passengers in from NOVA (Richmond is my hometown)! Simply astounding!

ElroyJetson wrote:

hooforce wrote:

atcsundevil wrote:

Definitely. AirTran coming to RIC was a big deal. I loved flying them, and I still miss them. Having JetBlue was a good get as well, but they seemed to stagnate in the market for a long time until recently. It's been years since I've flown from RIC — how are they doing on gate space?

RIC just built and opened 6 new gates onto Concourse A and now has a total of 28 gates overall. As for apron space, RIC is currently expanding a very large apron space on the south side of Concourse B. In addition, the airport is in the process moving the cargo area from the south side to the east side of the airport (freeing up even more apron space on the southside). There is also a study ongoing involving exploring options to move the Army National Guard on the east side to somewhere else on the premises opening up that space for a parallel runway according to the airport's master plan. So, there is quite a bit of movement going on at the airport to improve its operations.

I live in NOVA (Springfield) and I have gone down to RIC several times to catch flights to Florida on Allegiant because the price was so cheap. It's good to hear that others are thinking about doing the same. Brings tears to my eyes to hear that RIC may be drawing passengers in from NOVA (Richmond is my hometown)! Simply astounding!

Yes. Thank you for mentioning G4. They have been a big add, particularly to BNA and Florida. I have not flown them yet, but I probably will to PIE in the near future.

ElroyJetson wrote:

Had a family member fly on 6/1 from MCO-RIC on B6. The aircraft was an A320. For those who are curious the plane was about 3/4 full. Not bad for a midweek flight. A friend came down in April on NK....also an A320, and every seat was full.

Not sure why WN axed their flight, but B6 and NK seem to be doing just fine on the route.

hooforce wrote:

Oh, also heard that AA will be cutting the RIC-LGA route in November. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen, but we’ll see. There’s enough time between now and then for conditions to change. Fingers crossed.

hooforce wrote:

Could the pilot shortages be the reason why Delta Airlines on the RIC-ATL route is now mostly flying Boeing 757s versus 737s or do you think this is a result of more demand on that route? Looks like the same thing has happened for the same route between ORF-ATL.

RicFlyer wrote:

The cut in NYC flights from RIC is in November, AA cuts the flights to JFK but keeps 3 flights a day to LGA. There has been talk that as part of the NEA with B6 that B6 may start flights from RIC to JFK. We will see.

jplatts wrote:

RicFlyer wrote:

The cut in NYC flights from RIC is in November, AA cuts the flights to JFK but keeps 3 flights a day to LGA. There has been talk that as part of the NEA with B6 that B6 may start flights from RIC to JFK. We will see.

I agree that B6 re-adding RIC-JFK nonstop service is a possibility as B6 already has nonstop service to JFK from a few markets that are closer to NYC (by great circle distance) than RIC, including BOS, BTV, PWM, ROC, and SYR.

B6 would also likely have more O&D traffic on RIC-JFK than on JFK-BTV/PWM/ROC/SYR if RIC-JFK nonstop service is re-added by B6 with RIC being further from JFK than BTV/PWM/ROC/SYR and with RIC being located in a bigger metro area (by population) than BTV, PWM, ROC, or SYR.

ElroyJetson wrote:

https://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/preliminary-cy21-cargo-airports.pdf

Richmond (RIC) air cargo traffic is one of the fastest growing in the nation. Year over year increase of 13%. RIC is the largest air cargo airport in the State surpassing IAD by 100 million lbs.

ahj2000 wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

https://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/preliminary-cy21-cargo-airports.pdf

Richmond (RIC) air cargo traffic is one of the fastest growing in the nation. Year over year increase of 13%. RIC is the largest air cargo airport in the State surpassing IAD by 100 million lbs.

Amazon Air effect?

ahj2000 wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

https://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/preliminary-cy21-cargo-airports.pdf

Richmond (RIC) air cargo traffic is one of the fastest growing in the nation. Year over year increase of 13%. RIC is the largest air cargo airport in the State surpassing IAD by 100 million lbs.

Amazon Air effect?

hooforce wrote:

ahj2000 wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

https://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/passenger_allcargo_stats/passenger/media/preliminary-cy21-cargo-airports.pdf

Richmond (RIC) air cargo traffic is one of the fastest growing in the nation. Year over year increase of 13%. RIC is the largest air cargo airport in the State surpassing IAD by 100 million lbs.

Amazon Air effect?

This is true from 2020 to 2021, but from 2021 to 2022, the cargo growth at RIC has stopped; gone backwards, even - down 20.59% this CY thus far as of April 22. As a huge fan of RIC, it's not something I like to admit, but fact is fact. Hope things recover:

https://flyrichmond.com/wp-content/uplo ... t-rev1.pdf

ElroyJetson wrote:

hooforce wrote:

ahj2000 wrote:

Amazon Air effect?

This is true from 2020 to 2021, but from 2021 to 2022, the cargo growth at RIC has stopped; gone backwards, even - down 20.59% this CY thus far as of April 22. As a huge fan of RIC, it's not something I like to admit, but fact is fact. Hope things recover:

https://flyrichmond.com/wp-content/uplo ... t-rev1.pdf

Why do you think it has dropped in 2022? The prior two years cargo was up strongly.