Richmond International Airport

Richmond International Airport is the primary commercial gateway for central Virginia, serving the Richmond metropolitan area's roughly 1.3M residents and drawing catchment from the Virginia state capital, Petersburg, Charlottesville's secondary market, and the Northern Neck. Located 6 mi (10 km) southeast of downtown Richmond at 167 ft (51 m) elevation in Sandston, RIC handles 101 routes across 59 destinations through 28 airlines — a notably broad carrier mix for a mid-sized U.S. airport that reflects the city's dual role as a state capital and a mid-Atlantic business hub. No airline operates RIC as a hub, but American, Delta, United, Southwest, Spirit, Allegiant, Breeze, JetBlue, and Frontier all run daily or regular service, with American holding the largest share of departures. The route network concentrates on major eastern and southern hubs — Charlotte, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York–LaGuardia, Boston, Washington–Reagan, Detroit, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas–Fort Worth — supplemented by leisure service to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Miami, Las Vegas, Cancún, and seasonal Caribbean points. The airport is the only Virginia facility between Washington-area airports and Norfolk with this depth of scheduled service and is preferred by many Williamsburg-area travelers over Newport News. The airfield has two asphalt runways — primary 16/34 at 9,003 ft (2,744 m) and crosswind 02/20 at 6,607 ft (2,014 m), both capable of supporting all narrowbody operations and most widebody ferry movements. A single unified terminal houses all commercial traffic, organized around two concourses (A and B) and connected by a central atrium with consolidated TSA screening. Capital Region Airport Commission operates RIC as a public authority, and a steady capital improvement program has added parking capacity, concourse extensions, and curb-front expansion in recent years. The airport is named for the city rather than the surrounding Henrico County location and retains the historical RIC code reflecting its pre-1984 Richard E. Byrd Field naming.