NovakOmaha wrote:Mr.Nuke wrote:NovakOmaha wrote:Either they don't know that the customs service doesn't want to provide service to them or it's just about Omaha not deserving such service...
Or it isn't either one of those (and it isn't either one of those).
I'd like to buy a vowel Alex. So if it isn't one of them what exactly is it?
I mean, I get that they aren't getting international service any time soon & know it and are simply spending now rather than later but still...what's the word?
Well the short answer is their situation is basically no different than Omaha's circa 2006 (presumably still) that regardless of what they do there is no guarantee of CBP staffing depending on what you've built or haven't. And that is basically why you see the parsing in their airport director's statements to the effect of hoping to have service years down the road.
The longer answer is to me it doesn't look like they are actually building the FIS anytime soon (this is smart, but we'll come back to it).
So what is OKC doing?
From what I can tell, their master-plan like OMA's demand based. The airport is currently down to one open gate and that has triggered this previously planned 4 gate expansion (the renderings are from 2015 so this has been in the works for awhile despite the recent press). One of these four gates is going to be a larger gate capable of handling wide-body aircraft. The AP article via USA Today that you linked to says "a new gate will be added to the airport that's larger than others at the facility in hopes of someday adding international flights."
That in and of itself doesn't make a lot of sense until you read the 3rd paragraph of the article. Because if it is merely about one day having international service (and lets be honest much like OMA we are basically talking Mexico) you don't need a wide-body gate. No one is going to be flying 777, 787, A-380's into OMA or OKC for scheduled service. Much like Kansas City you'd be talking about narrow-body aircraft like a 737 or A320 flying to Mexico, planes both airports already see. What OKC is doing with that gate and again the 3rd paragraph basically tells us this is building a diversion gate for international traffic from DFW that needs to say sit out a thunderstorm. How much sense this strategy makes is debatable too, because in a thunderstorm delay the goal is still going to be to get the plane to DFW as soon as possible. So I'm not convinced that the majority of the planes in such a scenario would actually want to deplane.
Then he goes onto say, "But we also want to position ourselves to one day be able to handle international arrivals of our own ... even if it is many years down the road," he said.
You have to parse his words, but that quote implies that even with this expansion they wouldn't be in a position to immediately do so. The renderings back this up.
http://www.okctalk.com/content.php?r=32 ... -expansion
Below the 4 gate expansion, OKC appears to be "reserving" shell space for an FIS, but not actually building it out. Like I said above, I think this is a smart approach, because it doesn't make sense to invest money in things like equipment that you have no certainty when/if it will be used. It doesn't make sense to actually build out a structure that you don't know if it will be compliant with CBP regulations/guidelines when it will be used either. Lastly it doesn't make sense to build-out and have to maintain an area that isn't going to be used either. That said, it does make sense to potentially have space reserved for it if the situation changes, something I've advocated for Eppley as recently as December here.
http://eomahaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f ... IS#p283008
To summarize the situation isn't all that materially different from OMA. They are constructing an expansion in such a way that would facilitate integrating an FIS into their airport if CBP staffing becomes available at a future date. However, just like OMA and plenty of other places in the country right now there is no guarantee of said staffing.