Richmond airport sets new travel record

Just two months after shattering its monthly passenger record, Richmond International Airport has done it again.

The Capital Region Airport Commission on Wednesday announced that the airport counted 439,951 passengers for July, soaring past a record set in May when the airport counted 431,416 passengers.

By comparison, the airport counted 386,931 passengers in July 2019. A year later, as travel plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic, that number dropped to 117,673, according to airport data.

“While we’re certainly pleased with the July results, we’re not surprised,” Capital Region Airport Commission President and CEO Perry J. Miller said in a statement. “The Richmond region has seen tremendous growth with in-migration, several significant economic development announcements and an array of attractive new route offerings and enhancements by airlines operating from RIC.”

According to the the airport commission, three airlines — Breeze Airways, Delta Air Lines and Spirit Airlines — saw year-over-year traffic increases exceeding 25%. For the calendar year to date, passenger traffic has increased 19.2% over 2022. In addition, Breeze will also begin to offer new winter flights from Richmond to Fort Myers, Florida, beginning Nov. 15. The flights will operate twice a week and reconnect Richmond to Fort Meyers for the first time since 2005.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S airlines carried 71.4 million domestic passengers and 10.4 million international passengers on U.S. flights in May, an all-time high when not adjusting for seasonality, which takes into account number of weekend days, the timing of holidays and seasonal activity.