Could flights to Europe be in RIC's future? Airport official thinks so
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Could Richmond International Airport have more flights – including international flights to Europe? And does RIC want to portray itself to passengers disembarking from flights as a college town, a river city or both?
Those were the crucial questions that the Capital Region Airport Commission grappled with during the first day of a two-day retreat July 21.
The retreat’s purpose is to align airport staff and the commission on the airport's direction, goals and objects as the facility's leadership sets a course for the next five years.
A lively conversation stemming from RIC chief growth officer Martin Rubinstein's presentation about speculative building showed the possibility for growth at the airport. Rubinstein elaborated to the group that there was space for the airport to build more rental facilities to the east of the current terminal. Additionally, a flight school wants to relocate to another part of the airport, he said.
“Airport commitment can attract interest from developers, airlines, service providers,” Rubinstein said. “If we start building, the region is saying the region is growing. Once leased, these new assets will generate additional revenue for the airport with master plan alignment. We are going to be spending quite some time now thinking about what the next 20 years will look like. And speculative development can be utilized to activate some of those parcels that the airport has that are underutilized.”
The expansive possibilities at RIC could include more flights and routes that carry travelers to and from more destinations – including potential direct flights to Europe.
“We have a strong business case for a European route for our current passengers and what we're leaking to Dulles,” Rubinstein said. “We have more than enough to convince airlines that there are enough passengers coming out of this airport to go to Europe.”
RIC's constraint is not its runway, nor the kinds of planes that currently make Trans-Atlantic flights, Rubinstein said, but its terminal.
With the facility's 100th anniversary coming up in 2027, CRAC member Robert Ukrop said the milestone is a chance for a significant expansion, re-visioning and big moves.
“This is a 100-year opportunity,” Ukrop said. “Let's think big. Maybe being a hub would be out. There will be originating airports. If we can get enough of these smaller guys to take off, we can build this. People love this place.”
'An exciting time'
CRAC President and CEO Perry Miller told the group that its members would help determine the airport’s future.
“It's an exciting time for us because we get to do really cool stuff that will impact generations to come,” Miller said. “These people in the room are very, very critical to what's going to happen next in this region. The purpose of this meeting is to make sure that we are operating on one accord and one team to ensure that we are achieving the mission, the vision, the strategic direction of the organization, it's priorities, it's goals.”
He asked the group to help them close the gaps between what the airport is doing and what “we need to, the direction we are headed.”
In 2025 1.8 million passengers used RIC, a total that was 2.25% lower than the 2024 figure.
The current strategic plan for the airport, “Serve 2025,” was created in 2020. Regulations require an update every five years. Developing a new strategic plan is a process that involves visioning, brainstorming and collaboration by various stakeholders, according to airport spokesperson Troy Bell.
The plan is developed by staff with recommendations from consultants and input and guidance from members of the commission, who has the final say on the plan.
A number of other planning documents guide and evaluate the facility. The new strategic plan likely will be completed sometime this fall, Bell said.
The two-day retreat, which will conclude July 25, also is meant to focus on legal, regulatory, financial and other challenges that may impede airport partners.
On Monday, Miller led the group through an agenda that put forth the facility's statistics, along with theoretical and practical questions about the future of facility.
Presentations by aviation industry consultants and RIC management staff focused on analyzing the airport's current outlook, comparing it to other airports and looking into future possibilities of expansion and growth.
Tori Copeland, a representative of the consulting firm OGx, laid out the strategic plan process, which began in the spring with data collection. Groups involved include the commission, businesses, community partners, rental car companies, concession representatives, airline representatives, the Richmond Region Tourism office and others. The process will drill into the political, social and economic climate alongside establishing a strategic framework.
Dina Weinstein, Community Vitality Reporter
Steve Van Beek, a national aviation director with the transportation industry consulting firm Steer, gave the commission an aviation industry and airport strategy overview, likening airports to public nonprofits such as hospitals or universities – each of which provides important services that need to constantly be open, he said.
In presenting the airport's financial challenges, he said that airports generate revenue that is reinvested in their facilities, and although they are seen as public, airports are not dependent on local city, county or state tax revenues.
“Airline service has been great and it's growing,” Van Beek said. “Now you have to play catch up on the capital side.”
Airports now view passengers as customers they share with the airlines, he said.
“Your role as the landlord is basically to have your tenants at the airports who pay fees to you to help both serve them, but also to make a contribution to the larger enterprise,” Van Beek said. “Because if airports are self-financed, we have to charge market value on most things other than the airfield to make sure that we have enough funds to be self-sustaining because we're not dipping into taxpayers' pockets.”
Expansion would warrant public and private commitment and investments, Ukrop said.
'A whole group effort'
“It's going to take a whole group effort,” Miller said.
Repeated comments during the meeting considered airports' commitments to adhere to federal and other regulations as well as financial restrictions.
RIC chief operating officer John Rutledge presented a five-year comprehensive improvement plan, which outlines potential long-term infrastructure development and improvement projects, prioritizes them based on need and available funding, and serves as the basis for securing federal funding, particularly through the Airport Improvement Program.
A budget presentation of RIC's 5-year financial forecast by Basil Dosunmu, RIC chief financial officer, focused on revenue. RIC's Fiscal Year 2025 budget assumes $66.3 million in operating revenue and $46.3 million in operating expenses.
The strategic plan is unique in that its plan states strategic priorities for the next five years, outlines objectives and desired key results and provides some detail on specific initiatives to accomplish the plan’s objectives, Bell said in an email.
The full commission is composed of 14 commissioners, including elected officials and business leaders appointed by the four Richmond-area jurisdictions. Henrico County's representatives at the retreat were county supervisors Roscoe Cooper, III (Fairfield District), vice chairman Tyrone Nelson (Varina District) and Misty Roundtree (Three Chopt District), as well as local business owner Ukrop.
Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.
