Virginia Airport To Vote on Taking Over FBOs
Airport commission considers consolidating two service providers
Richmond Jet Center at Virginia's Richmond International Airport is one of two FBOs whose fate lies in the balance as the Capital Region Airport Commission votes this week to decide whether or not to take over the aviation service business there.

Virginia’s Richmond International Airport (KRIC) has issued a proposal to take control of its two FBOs, with a meeting planned for tomorrow. The Capital Region Airport Commission will vote on a resolution presented last week by KRIC president and CEO Perry Miller that would eliminate Richmond Jet Center—which has more than seven decades in operation at the field—as well as the Million Air Richmond FBO (in operation since 1992) in favor of one airport-controlled entity.

The vote announcement comes after the commission issued and then canceled two RFPs in the midst of the evaluation process over the past year and a half. While the first RFP noted leases for two aviation service providers, the second—seemingly in violation of the airport’s grant assurances—was for only one, despite the fact that both FBO leases are due to expire in early 2026.

Under the airport’s master plan, which calls for the creation of a parallel runway, three leaseholds are identified for general aviation development. Both FBOs attempted to negotiate shorter lease renewals while the airport sorted out its plans, but both were rebuffed. According to the FBOs, they were blindsided by news of the vote scheduling, and both told AIN that the numbers presented in the airport's proposal strongly overstated the potential revenues resulting from the takeover.

Richmond Jet Center—which claims it spent $250,000 developing proposals—said it never received any responses from the airport to its repeated inquiries as to why the RFPs were canceled. It has since filed a lawsuit demanding the commission disclose records on its decision-making process.

KRIC is a mixed-use airport, with airline activity accounting for half of its operations. The two FBOs share in the airline fueling, a task that any airport-operated facility would need to perform in addition to tending to the business and general aviation traffic.