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Photo by Maggie Burch
A Southwest Airlines flight arrives from Orlando, Fla.
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Photo by Maggie Burch
Dave Ridley, senior vice president with Southwest.
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Photo by Maggie Burch
LUV is the airline's New York Stock Exchange symbol — as well as a slogan.
Southwest Airlines’ first flight from Orlando, Fla., actually arrived Sunday, but Richmond International Airport gathered business, tourism and media representatives for an official kick-off this afternoon.
Noting that the airport had pursued Southwest Airlines for about 15 years, Robert F. Norfleet, Jr., chairman of the Capital Region Airport Commission, called the start of daily nonstop flights to Orlando “a wonderful first step.”
Dave Ridley, Southwest Airlines’ senior vice president for business development, says Richmond “was very much one of our top cities to open in 2001 or 2002.” But after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, plans to expand to Richmond got put on the back burner.
“The shock to the airline industry reduced travel,” Ridley says. People were afraid to fly, and fuel prices went up. Southwest also adjusted to its business model from “short-haul” flights to longer trips.
For the airline’s first 30 years, he explains, most of its flights were 90 minutes or less. “We competed with the automobile as opposed to other airlines.” But higher fares resulting from increased fuel prices, combined with lengthier security procedures, made short flights a less appealing option for travelers. Those changes slowed Southwest’s rate of growth, Ridley says.
In 2011, when Southwest bought AirTran Airways, “AirTran served some cities that were on our radar,” Ridley says, including Richmond.
AirTran offers three daily flights from Richmond to Atlanta and is adding a fourth, he says. “You can book AirTran to Atlanta and switch to a Southwest flight to Austin [Texas] or Phoenix.” Richmond travelers now have access to 57 cities through Southwest and AirTran via Orlando and Atlanta, Ridley says.
Other than Richmond business and travel leaders, he says the person most thrilled about Southwest’s arrival in Richmond might be his wife, Mary Flo Ridley, who has been advocating for it since she discovered the city in the 1980s.
The Ridleys, who live in Dallas, have visited the Richmond region numerous times, including when their daughter attended the University of Virginia. Mary Flo Ridley has even discovered that she has an ancestor, Dr. John Woodson, who became one of Jamestown’s early settlers in 1619. “Richmond is such a great city,” she says, commenting on its historical richness as well as the beauty of the area. “I’ve been pushing this for a long time.”
In addition to consistent support from the 20 companies that make up the airport’s “Major Users Group,” or MUGs for short, the region is seeing more potential customers though tourism, college and young professionals choosing Richmond as a place to live, says Kim Scheeler, president of the Greater Richmond Chamber.
“The responsibility is ours to make this work,” he says. “To keep a vibrant airport, we need to use low-cost carriers” and fly out of Richmond.
“It’s important to support all the carriers in a way that maintains the competitive environment,” says Donna G. Kelliher, director of travel and corporate services for Dominion Resources Services Inc. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
