Sep. 10--Richmond's fast-growing airport boasts another distinction experts say enough different types of travelers use RIC that it doesn't overly depend on one type of customer and can weather such changes as the loss of a major employer.
Richmond International Airport is in the happy position of not depending on a particular segment of its passenger market for its economic vitality, experts say.
While airports don't look forward to losing any passengers, the loss of 2,000 Wachovia Securities jobs in Richmond should have little effect on the airport.
This year, the airport expects more than 3.6 million passengers and more than $500 million in annual airline-ticket sales, said airport official Troy Bell. In that market, he said, "no one entity has a dominant position."
"It's difficult to determine if one company's move would mean the loss of 'X' number of travelers," said Bell, RIC's marketing and air-service development director.
"The truth is, your airport is very diverse," said airline expert Darryl Jenkins, who has consulted for Richmond International on its air-service development. Wachovia's impact on RIC, he said, "would just become a rounding-off error."
Wachovia Securities wouldn't say how many airline tickets it has been buying through Richmond, but the company hinted it could be responsible for as many as 10,000 to 20,000 passengers a year.
"Over the years, I've heard secondor third-hand that certain companies claim to be the airport's biggest user," Bell said, "but we have no data to support or rebut any such claims."
How many travelers an organization sends through Richmond International varies considerably, and the number is not necessarily related to the organization's size, even for major firms and institutions.
With 5,000 to 6,000 employees considered frequent fliers, Dominion Resources Inc. buys 15,000 to 20,000 airline tickets annually, the company said, most for flights at Richmond International.
Virginia Commonwealth University has 9,900 employees -- not counting its separate health system -- and spends about $2.2 million to buy 2,800 airline tickets a year, roughly two-thirds of them for Richmond flights, said the university's procurement chief, C. Edward Gibbs.
In 2006, Philip Morris bought 7,400 tickets for business travel on commercial airlines out of RIC, according to the company's Bill Phelps. Philip Morris employs 5,800 people in central Virginia.
Fort Lee could be a contender for the unofficial title of RIC's largest customer.
The Army post bought 21,567 tickets for flights on official business out of Richmond International last year, a Fort Lee spokesman said, while leisure travelers at Fort Lee buy 20,000 tickets for RIC flights annually.
The number of soldiers training at Fort Lee will grow 150 percent in the next four years, increasing from 24,000 a year to 60,000 a year, according to the post.
That growth should be reflected in increased passenger traffic at Richmond International, experts said.
