RIC passenger traffic drops slightly

Richmond International Airport saw a relatively small decrease in its passenger traffic in April compared with the same month a year ago.

"It's a big improvement over what we've seen for the last three months," airport spokesman Troy Bell said yesterday.

The number of air travelers using the airport fell 2.6 percent in April, according to the Capital Region Airport Commission. April's passengers were 278,883, compared with 286,213 in April 2008.

"The amount of decrease is the least we've seen in this calendar year," Bell said.

Passenger traffic fell 13.3 percent in March, was down 12 percent in February and decreased 7.4 percent in January, all compared with the same months in the prior year.

Through the first 10 months of the fiscal year that ends June 30, Richmond International's passenger traffic fell 7.9 percent to 2,756,986 passengers, compared with 2,994,748 travelers over the same period in the prior year.

Air travel is closely linked to the health of the economy, which has taken a beating in the current recession.

For the first time since last June, US Airways was the airport's market-share leader for April, carrying 24.5 percent of passengers, followed by Delta with 23.2 percent and American with 10.5 percent.

Only JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways, the airport's two low-cost carriers, saw growth in their passenger numbers in April. JetBlue traffic increased 14.5 percent, while AirTran was up 1.98 percent over the same month last year.

The airport traffic benefited last month because Easter, Passover and spring break took place in April this year but were in March last year, Bell said.

The Capital Region Airport Commission adopted a $38.6 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, which shows about a 3 percent reduction in revenue from the $39.8 million projected for the current fiscal year.

The airport's revenue is down across the board, said the airport's chief financial officer, Douglas Blum. "We've seen a revenue drop," Bell said, "but we've also seen a drop in expenses."

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .