Traffic at Richmond’s airport is down. Its two low-cost carriers, AirTran (which is being purchased by Southwest) and Jet Blue may decide to pull out of the facility in search of better business. In response, the quasi-government body that owns and operates Richmond International, the Capital Region Airport Commission, decides to spend $600,000 on a public relations campaign to convince people to fly the two carriers, or lose them and see air fares increase.
The airport commission, though, isn’t the one that’s going to actually run the campaign. That task falls to the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber’s “Save Low Fares Richmond” has the sort of tag line only a stern nanny could love: “Fly on AirTran and JetBlue, or say goodbye to low fares.”
Nothing like a threat to motivate people…particularly when travelers through RIC already have to contend with the fun-loving TSA (yes, Virginia, they will touch your junk).
The money the commission is putting toward the campaign comes from the fees on parking, concessions, gates, rental cars, landings and other services it levies on airlines and passengers. That makes the effort a bit awkward for both the Chamber and the Commission, because the PR effort takes sides; AirTran and Jet Blue good, Delta, United, Air Canada and the rest, bad (and expensive).
If I’m the RIC station manager for, say, United, how happy will I be to learn that my airline is helping fund a campaign that supports my competitors?
If the low cost carriers decide to leave Richmond, passengers will not have to resort to wagon trains or hitch hiking to reach their destinations. Instead, they can do as many other folks already do — drive to other airports (which aren’t so far away), fly on the carriers they wish at the prices they prefer. That’s competition.
But for a more blunt assessment of how successful the current RIC ad blitz is likely to be, consider this piece from last year, where Norfolk airport assistant director Wayne Shank said campaigns like the one about to get underway in Richmond are so much wasted money:
Even with fly-the-airport advertising campaigns, Shank said, “There’s only so much you can do in an economic downturn.”
There is one thing the Richmond airport could do that would put it light years ahead of competing airports and buck the trend of declining passenger traffic: drop the TSA and take over security operations itself. Just imagine the tag line for that PR campaign: “Fly grope-free at RIC!”
