A group of Hampton Roads business leaders wants to bring transatlantic commercial airline flights to Norfolk.
But first, they say, someone may have to help pay for it.
Jared Chalk with the Hampton Roads Alliance and Nancy Grden, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable — a group of regional CEOs from organizations like Sentara, Towne Bank and Stihl — presented the idea of a transatlantic air service regional fund to Norfolk City Council this month.
The fund would help entice an airline to begin a route to a destination across the Atlantic Ocean. Chalk said Norfolk has several assets that would lend itself to a transatlantic flight, such as Naval Station Norfolk and NATO’s North American headquarters.
“NATO is investing heavily in the U.S., and a lot of that deal flow, from an economic development perspective, we believe, is coming here,” Chalk said.
The regional fund plans are still in the early stages, Grden said: The CEOs have committed to support it, but it’s too early to say whether the funding would could from public dollars, private investment or both.
“We have to get started somewhere,” Grden said during the meeting.
It’s not unheard of for airports to pay an upfront cost for new routes with the hope they eventually become profitable, said William Swelbar, an aviation industry veteran and consultant who helped author a 2024 study on the region’s airports.
The winners in these deals, especially for domestic routes, usually are the airlines, said Swelbar, who was skeptical about the amount of economic activity they generate for the host cities. Travelers typically go to another leisure destination and spend most of their money there, rather than at home, he said.
But international flights are sometimes a different story, he said. If a route is established that can bring a significant number of foreign travelers to Hampton Roads, he believed the fund could generate a worthwhile return on investment.
Aircraft types for longer flights have become small enough that some airlines can afford to run them from smaller airports, Swelbar said.
But other airlines still may not be able to profitably operate those routes, which can lead to requests for financial incentives, he added.
Even so, Swelbar said Norfolk is among a number of growing destinations, such as Richmond and Savannah, Georgia, he believe would win a transatlantic flight in the next five years.
“It’s a process, and it takes time,” Swelbar said.
Richmond International Airport has no transatlantic flights but does offer nonstop service to Bermuda, according to its website. Raleigh-Durham International Airport offers several nonstop flights across the Atlantic, to London, Paris and Reykjavik, Iceland, also according to its website.
It has been a wildly successful year for Norfolk International Airport, which has posted several record-breaking months for passenger numbers. The airport also is in the midst of several capital improvement projects, including new food vendors, a new rental car garage, a new customs facility and a renovated concourse.
The airport also will add weekly flights to Cancun, Mexico, in January.
However, a deal to bring a 168-room onsite hotel fell apart after airport leaders said the developer violated a contract agreement. The failure would delay the project by several years, Norfolk Airport Authority CEO and President Mark Perryman said.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
