Warner announces funding for consolidated security checkpoint at Richmond International Airport

By Son Tran, Special to the Citizen

U.S. Senator Mark Warner visited Richmond International Airport Nov. 1 to announce a $2.25 million in federal funding for infrastructure upgrades at the airport.

The grant came as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Terminals Program, which was established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The funding will be used toward the design of a consolidated security checkpoint at the airport, Warner said.

Currently, each of the concourses at Richmond Airport has a separate screening area, and passengers cannot go from one to the other without passing through security multiple times. 

“In terms of the eating and drinking experience at an airport, very few people want to go to a restaurant before they clear security,” Warner said. “You want to get that hassle behind you by doubling the capacity, putting it all in one location.”

The proposed checkpoint will be centralized, allowing travelers to move freely between concourses, which can be helpful for those transiting through Richmond, Warner said. 

Normally, a project like this can require up to 15 months for designing and another 18 months for construction, but airport authorities hope to accelerate the process by starting construction as the design phase is wrapping up.

“We’re hoping in the next 24 to 30 months we’ll be able to complete the project,” said John Rutledge, chief operating officer of the Capital Region Airport Commission. “It’s aggressive, but we’re going to give it a shot.”

This is the third grant that the region’s primary airport has gotten from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, after $665,000 and $4 million was previously invested into ensuring Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and upgrading the bridgeways, respectively. According to the FAA, two other Virginia airports (Washington Dulles International Airport and Norfolk International Airport) also received nearly $55 million combined in federal funding through the Airport Terminals Program. While funding for the former will go toward a new terminal building, money for the latter will be used to improve traffic access to the airport.

Last year, RIC handled a record 4.7 million passengers, according to the Capital Region Airport Commission, and that number has continued to grow.

“We’re setting records most every month with passenger traffic and planes out there,” Rutledge said.

An advantage that RIC has is that its terminal and runways are large enough to accommodate practically all types of aircraft, Warner said, and he hopes further investment can be made to allow the airport to serve international routes to Canada, the Caribbean and European destinations.

“If we can have another international gateway airport out of Richmond, that would be huge,” he said.