AirTran will end RIC-NYC flights in Jan.

By: Peter Bacqué | Times-Dispatch
Published: November 26, 2008

AirTran Airways will drop its two Richmond-New York City flights in January.

The discount airline is losing its leased arrival and departure slots at LaGuardia Airport, officials said.

The Orlando, Fla.-based carrier's last Richmond-LaGuardia flights will be on Jan. 5

"We think it's regrettable," Richmond International Airport spokesman Troy Bell said. "It's unfortunate that the service could not be sustained."

Without the AirTran flights, the airport will have 24 round-trip flights daily to New York -- the top destination for Richmond travelers.

AirTran leased its LaGuardia slots from bankrupt ATA Airlines. Southwest Airlines plans to buy ATA so it can obtain the carrier's operating slots at LaGuardia.

LaGuardia, one of the busiest airports in the U.S., is subject to federal rules limiting the hourly number of take-offs and landings.

AirTran started service from RIC to LaGuardia on Aug. 7, just before the financial crisis hit the economy.

The Richmond-New York service produced disappointing results for AirTran, said Tad Hutcheson, the airlines' vice president of marketing. "It was losing a tremendous amount of money."

"The first month, the schedule wasn't the best," RIC's president and CEO, Jon Mathiasen, said yesterday. "The second month, the economy fell apart."

And, Mathiasen said, Richmond-New York "is a highly competitive market. Those who are in it aren't going to rest on their laurels."

In addition to AirTran, four other carriers serve the Richmond-New York nonstop market: US Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways.

AirTran is offering passengers who booked seats on AirTran's Richmond-LaGuardia flights after Jan. 5 the options of flying between Richmond and New York via Atlanta; driving to Newport News and catching AirTran's New York flights there; or having their fares refunded, Hutcheson said.

"The majority of passengers are choosing the Newport News-to-LaGuardia option," he said.

The discount carrier will continue to serve Richmond with five daily nonstop flights to Atlanta and one to Orlando.

AirTran, which entered the Richmond market in 2005, carries about 10 percent of RIC's total passenger traffic.

The airline industry has been battered this year by the slumping economy and volatile oil prices, and RIC has seen its traffic drop from last year's record results.

October's passenger traffic at Richmond was down 6.4 percent compared with the same month last year, Bell said: 305,013 in 2008 versus 326,039 in 2007.

For the calendar year through October, RIC's passenger traffic fell 3.3 percent: 2,939,345 in 2008 versus 3,040,711 in 2007, which was a record.

Despite the tough economy, three airlines at Richmond reported passenger growth for October: AirTran, up 8.1 percent; Northwest, up 7.4 percent; and Delta, up 0.4 percent.

The airport expects November passenger traffic to be soft, Bell said. Boardings stalled before and after Election Day, he said, and some Thanksgiving holiday travel will carry over into early December.

In another development, RIC officials said the $13.3 million in road improvements to Airport Drive should be completed soon. The airport has put in operation its new southbound flyover roadway to the terminal complex, and officials said the northbound flyover should be open to vehicles no later than next month.

Also, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held Tuesday for the long-awaited direct connection between the airport and the Pocahontas Parkway (state Route 895). The 1.6-mile, $45.2 million toll road is scheduled to open in early 2011.

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.