Richmond airport will add a business center

Business travelers will be getting a new, more convenient spot at Richmond International Airport to work, hold private meetings, or make calls.

The Capital Region Airport Commission is adding an additional business center across from the BB&T branch bank on the terminal's upper level.

The 680-square-foot center will offer business travelers work cubicles on a first-come, first-served basis and a pair of rooms to rent for small meetings.

"The big attraction is the two meeting rooms for personnel interviews, surveys, depositions," said airport spokesman Troy Bell. "The present business center's meeting rooms are too big and not easily accessible."

In the new center, one of the small meeting rooms will seat six people and the other four, Bell said.

Like the existing lower-level business center, the new space will have free WiFi and Ethernet access, and catering will be available.

The commission expects that completing and furnishing the new center -- which is now unfinished space -- will cost less than $200,000 and be completed before the end of November.

The new center will have higher visibility than the present location, which is tucked away on the lower level behind the terminal's main escalator and stairway.

Bell said the lower-level business center and its larger meeting rooms will remain available for public use for the foreseeable future. -- Peter Bacqué