Every carrier serving Eppley posted an increase in passengers last month compared with the previous June. Those results might help the airport attract new service or more or larger flights to current destinations, Smithey said.
"They can't ignore the rate of growth," he said. "They cannot ignore the Omaha market."
I must say I am not pulling my weight. Last year, I had 14 trips (so I went through the airport 28 times). This year, I have had 2 trips. Can't say I am sad, though.
joeglow wrote:I must say I am not pulling my weight. Last year, I had 14 trips (so I went through the airport 28 times). This year, I have had 2 trips. Can't say I am sad, though.
Hrm, I've had 5 roundtrips through so far, with at least one more planned for the year... That's about a 50% increase over last year!
I've probably had about a dozen roundtrip flights out of Omaha since this time last year. I've probably mentioned this, and last time I traveled, which was two weekends ago, I refrained from mentioning it. But anyway, it seems every time I return to Omaha, I always find myself asking, "where are all the planes?" Seriously! The airport looks like a "ghost-airport". I mean, when I get inside there are definitely people, and I keep hearing about Eppley setting records in their passenger numbers.....but how can this be when there are never any planes at the darn airport?!!!
One possible answer I've considered, is that Omaha is not a hub, and it is not the "end of the line" for many flights. Planes generally land in Omaha, unload and load again quick, and then take right back off.
Although, of the planes I have noticed there, I've been seeing more "medium" sized jets like 757s, which is nice. I hate just seeing all the little commuter/regional gets and 737s.
Anyway, just my 2 cents....
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Slowing a bit but with AA adding a larger plane between ORD-OMA that will help a bit and hopefully some new flights before long.
Yep...and on October 31st they will be adding another MD-80 between here and chicago. So 6 MD-80 roundtrips on American, plus the little regional jets. I think that when America West and US Airways finish their merger, there will be flights added to their East Coast hubs. Delta has added another flight between here and Atlanta. Southwest's Saturday only nonstop flights to Orlando are not on their schedule anymore, it looks like this past Saturday was the last one. Eppley seems to be doing very well this year, is flyOMA still around to add some fuel to the fire? Anyone else have anything they've heard?
I think these smaller jets are an outgrowth of the industry after 9/11. Immediately after 9/11 volume was way down and the airlines moves to smaller jets to improve efficiency with the lower volumes initially.
I think I recall articles stating that the airlines really liked the savings this new practice afforded them. With the continuing struggles in the industry it appears they are continuing with this practice in the secondary markets like Omaha that feed the hubs.
I have made several hops the past couple years between other secondary markets and I am flying smaller jets there too.
Streets, I think your guess on why there seem to be no airlines parked at Eppley is probably dead on. Maybe the fact we don't have a major maintenance facility here as compared to other airports is a factor too.
My son got a 27 on his ACT. No this score is not as high as what Jeff's son achieved. But one has to remember the paternal gene-pool my son has to overcome. On a PGPAB [Paternal Gene-Pool Adjusted Basis], my son's score is a 37 and Jeff's son's PGPAB ACT score is 19.
I would love to see jets constantly on the runway taking off and landing simultaneously. Just another big city activity that would be nice to see in Omaha some day. I'm sure the air quality would definitely decline if that ever happens
Maybe it's also just the stark contrast of taking off from mega-airports like Chicago, Denver, Dallas, etc. and landing in Omaha at the airfield.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
I fly out of OMA almost every week and I'm there at all times of the day....I've it seen busier than I ever thought I would...and I flew last night to a small crowd. Over all, I've noticed a busier airport. Recently, there have been 3 planes at a time lined up waiting to take off. So, it's happening....slowly, but surely.
Well, whenever I'm at Eppley, I can usually count the number of planes docked on one hand, and I usually don't need to use all my fingers.
And I have never, EVER, seen a line of planes to take off. But, I'll take your testimony as a good sign.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
StreetsOfOmaha wrote:I've probably had about a dozen roundtrip flights out of Omaha since this time last year. I've probably mentioned this, and last time I traveled, which was two weekends ago, I refrained from mentioning it. But anyway, it seems every time I return to Omaha, I always find myself asking, "where are all the planes?" Seriously! The airport looks like a "ghost-airport". I mean, when I get inside there are definitely people, and I keep hearing about Eppley setting records in their passenger numbers.....but how can this be when there are never any planes at the darn airport?!!!
One possible answer I've considered, is that Omaha is not a hub, and it is not the "end of the line" for many flights. Planes generally land in Omaha, unload and load again quick, and then take right back off.
Although, of the planes I have noticed there, I've been seeing more "medium" sized jets like 757s, which is nice. I hate just seeing all the little commuter/regional gets and 737s.
Anyway, just my 2 cents....
So far I'm at 7 roundtrips to O! this year with 4 more planned. When I arrrive on the last flight in on AA almost all gates are full and there are usually a couple of planes parked away from the gates. Also, when I take the 1130 am flight out to DFW the traffic seems pretty good. yes, it's all about the non-hub or as noted in the FAA website the "medium-hub" status of OMA. Nice to hear about another MD80 from ORD to OMA and another flight to ATL. I'm surprised the flight to MCO didn't work out.
On Friday 9/2 I arrived at 11:45 PM from a trip to Denver. Nearly every gate was occupied. A few 737's, Airbus A319's, a couple of regional jets, and two 757's including the one I was in. I assumed several were not to depart until morning but it made the airport look busy.
Before I left Denver I was waiting at the gate for my 757 to arrive when a much larger 777 pulled up to the gate and disgorged 200 or more people. I asked the airline employee if my gate was moved. She said no, and said that "Big Boy" (the 777) would not fit at Eppley. I had to correct her. It is true that the 777 would prefer 11,000 feet of runway but one was diverted to Omaha on 9/11/01. Even Offutt AFB's E-4 (a 747 that's 100 tons heavier that a 777) will practice instrument approaches and touch-and -goes at Eppley.
Actually, (believe it or not), Omaha had SCHEDULED UAL 777 service for exactly 2 weeks in early 1998. This was while UAL was phazing out their DC-10's which originally flew DEN-OMA 2x/day for years. These routes were later replaced by 757s.
We have had 777s in many times since, 9/11 brought in 2 and countless O'Hare diversions in between. We actually had UAL 777, 767-300, and 747-400s parked at the gates at the same time during a nasty Chicago thunderstorm back in 2000. The 747 came in from Tokyo and couldn't get cleared by customs, which resulted in passengers being stranded on the plane for 9+ hours.
Eppley can handle any aircraft in the world currently, with the exception of the Russian AN-225 and gross-weighted, international 747 departures.
You probably mentioned this on some earlier post, but do you work at the airport? Do you think we would ever see an A380 land in Omaha?
I'm a private pilot that hasn't flown in a while and a certified "plane nut". I watched one of the AN-125s take off from Eppley. It wasn't fully loaded and only used about 5000 ft of runway.
When I was in Denver I had some time in the evening to go out to DIA and watch the arrivals. I found a nice vantage point on the north side of the airport on E 120th Ave. I could view the approaches to four runways. The traffic was a steady parade of 737s, A319s, RJs, et al. At about 8pm I counted nine aircraft funneling in for landing.
I think Eppley has great potential for growth. The only limiting factor I can see is Council Bluffs. Noise limitations I don't think will allow Eppley to operate at full capacity 7X24. Here's to quieter aircraft.
I believe you on the AN-225 (~600+ tons) and the mgw 747-400 (~400+ tons). In the future , if Omaha would get non-stop international flights to Europe and Asia it would be a 787 or maybe an A350.
Looking good..At 3,164,206 total passengers through September..It looks like the final 2005 number will fall somehwre between 4.1 and 4.3 million for the year..
Capital spending would total $5.7 million, including $1.8 million in improvements approved Tuesday for the Eppley facilities used by fixed-base operator Elliott Aviation. The improvements will include remodeled entrances, lobby and some offices, maintenance area expansion, parking lot improvements and a new roof.
Maybe fixing up the existing terminal so it doesn't look so bad next a new terminal?
jjjjhskr wrote:Does anyone know why Northwest volume was down 22% in November from last year? Possibly the strike? (I probably just answered my own question)
Capital spending would total $5.7 million, including $1.8 million in improvements approved Tuesday for the Eppley facilities used by fixed-base operator Elliott Aviation. The improvements will include remodeled entrances, lobby and some offices, maintenance area expansion, parking lot improvements and a new roof.
1) NWA volume was down, but the regional jets were up.
2) I read it as the entrances, lobby, offices, maint, parking and roof are for Elliott, not the passenger terminal. But I could be wrong.
I haven't flown all too often but really our airport isn't much uglier than some of the others I have been in. They usually have more shops and stores but they aren't much prettier. For as much time as you spend in an airport I could care less what it looks like as long as its easy to navigate I am fine and Epply is a great airport to navigate.
OmahaRules wrote:I haven't flown all too often but really our airport isn't much uglier than some of the others I have been in. They usually have more shops and stores but they aren't much prettier. For as much time as you spend in an airport I could care less what it looks like as long as its easy to navigate I am fine and Epply is a great airport to navigate.
Just last week I flew to Jamaica so I got to see a few airports. Atlanta's is pretty nice, but of course it's a huge hub airport. Miami's was awful, and the wing I was in at the Montego Bay airport was awful (Though they do have a new remodeled wing that we departed from that was pretty nice). Astheticly, I'd say Omaha's airport is on par and somewhat nicer than some of the other airports I've been in, but I didn't realize until this trip how small our airport actually is.
I guess I’m picky. Since ours cant be a massive hub then I expect it to look nice. I was shocked at how much larger and nicer the Fresno airport was than ours. It looked like Denver’s kind of.
omahapropertymanager wrote:
Just last week I flew to Jamaica so I got to see a few airports. Atlanta's is pretty nice, but of course it's a huge hub airport. Miami's was awful, and the wing I was in at the Montego Bay airport was awful (Though they do have a new remodeled wing that we departed from that was pretty nice). Astheticly, I'd say Omaha's airport is on par and somewhat nicer than some of the other airports I've been in, but I didn't realize until this trip how small our airport actually is.
Gah, I dunno what part you saw, but I thought the Atlanta airport (American Terminal, at least) was the most hideous terminal I've ever seen.
Omaha's is okay, but it definitely needs more 'stuff'.
Asten wrote:Gah, I dunno what part you saw, but I thought the Atlanta airport (American Terminal, at least) was the most hideous terminal I've ever seen.
Omaha's is okay, but it definitely needs more 'stuff'.
I was on the Delta side. I guess it wasn't really the asthetics that impressed me, just the amount of shops and whatnot.
Asten wrote:Gah, I dunno what part you saw, but I thought the Atlanta airport (American Terminal, at least) was the most hideous terminal I've ever seen.
Omaha's is okay, but it definitely needs more 'stuff'.
I was on the Delta side. I guess it wasn't really the asthetics that impressed me, just the amount of shops and whatnot.
Yeah, the American side didn't even have that. I think there was a BK and a blimpie's stand in the hallway, and maybe a coffee stand...
The fact I was almost two hours late flying through atlanta both directions didn't help matters either.
No one would call Eppley's terminal beautiful, but it isn't ugly. I just wish they would have more nonstops to the coasts. Now that would be beautiful.
That's about a 50% increase over last year!
Either way I’m happy because that place is UGLY!
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