Eppley passengers numbers

[Candleshoe]

GRI's numbers can be found on their website, in the Airport Authority meeting minutes. They haven't posted last weeks minutes yet, which would show the March numbers. But, in a news story, they reported 234% increase over March 2009 and have already passed the magical 10,000 passenger total that gets them the million bucks from the FAA.

[NovakOmaha]

GRI's numbers can be found on their website, in the Airport Authority meeting minutes. They haven't posted last weeks minutes yet, which would show the March numbers. But, in a news story, they reported 234% increase over March 2009 and have already passed the magical 10,000 passenger total that gets them the million bucks from the FAA.

That's amazing.  I wonder how long before they offer flights to Orlando, Tampa or LAX.  Outstanding achievement for GRI.

[Mr.Nuke]

April Numbers:
Eppley down 0.6% for the month and is flat YTD.  
Lincoln up 3% for the month down 2% for the year
Des Moines up 7.32% for the month and 4.5% for the year
Kansas City up 3.0% for the month and 1.63% for the year

[Mr.Nuke]

We haven't looked at this for a couple of months.  Looks like Omaha is doing alright.  
Omaha was up 5.7% for October, and is up 1.2% year-to-date
Kansas City (hasn’t updated since August) was up 0.84% at that point.  
Through September Des Moines is up 3.06% YTD.
Lincoln is down 4% YTD through September.

[Candleshoe]

From the 12/26 GI Independent

Here’s the top 20 rankings of busiest airports in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri based on passenger numbers for the year ended June 30, 2010. Grand Island had been ranked No. 22 in 2009. It’s currently No. 11 and is expected to rise to No. 10 next year. (estimates for the 2010 calendar year are in excess of 37,000 passengers)

Rank Airport Passenger number Change over last year Average fare

1 St. Louis   4,682,020    -1.8%    $149


2 Kansas City, Mo  . 4,237,680    -1%    $143

3 Omaha   1,881,030    -2%    $156

4 Des Moines, Iowa   751,370    +1.1%    $189

5 Wichita, Kan.   650,880    -1.7%    $164

6 Cedar Rapids, Iowa   390,110    -6.9%    $193

7 Springfield, Mo.   343,700    +1.7%    $188

8 Lincoln   118,010    -9.5%    $207

9 Branson, Mo.   59,200    +533.2%    $117

10 Dubuque, Iowa   32,620    -15.3%    $197

11 Grand Island   29,630    +134.4%    $99

12 Manhattan, Kan.   29,590    +173.2%    $199

13 Columbia, Mo.   27,350    +37.4%    $180

14 Sioux City, Iowa   25,370    -13.4%    $237

15 Waterloo, Iowa   19,030    -9.7%    $231

16 Mason City, Iowa   9,960    -4.8%    $196

17 Kearney   9,510    -7.8%    $180

18 Garden City, Kan.   9,140    +0.3%    $180

19 Scottsbluff 8,740      +4.7%    $174

20 Hays, Kan. 7,960      +9.6%    $187

[Mr.Nuke]

We haven't looked at this for over a year, but 2011 wasn't a great year for Eppley.  Omaha had 4,212,399 passengers down 1.7% from 2010

Kansas City was up 2.48% for the year.
Des Moines was up 4.47%.
Grand Island was up 25% through November
Don't have Lincoln numbers.  
----
Eppley was down 3.1% for January 2012 over 2011.  
Kansas City is up 3.15%
Lincoln is up 5%.

[iamjacobm]

I blame the flood.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Seems pretty negligible.

I also wonder whether this is a reflection of less people coming to Omaha (whether due to the flood or other trends), or an indication that more people are choosing different modes of transportation.

[almighty_tuna]

2012 should be a huge bump for Eppley with NCAA BB and the swimming trials.

[Linkin5]

Lincoln apparently was up 12% from January 2011, and 13% from January 2010.

[Mr.Nuke]

Lincoln apparently was up 12% from January 2011, and 13% from January 2010.

Correct.  Lincoln's total traffic is up 12% month over month for January 2012 over 2011.  Airline passenger activity is up 5%.  Charter activity is up 1776%.  With Lincoln, I'm ignoring the charter activity for the first year in the Big Ten.  Nebraska is flying Men's and Women's basketball teams, volleyball team, etc. to many more road destinations now.  In turn, Lincoln is seeing more teams fly in where some in the Big XII may have bused.  While great for the airport, the increase in charters does nothing to show us how the scheduled service is doing.

[NovakOmaha]

Eppley is in a lull.  No Southwest expansion.  No new service outisde of Usair to Charlotte.  Now DSM is going to get Southwest.  It's time Eppley got agressive with the carriers.  I don't know if they are but there really isn't any proof of it.

The time is long passed for year round service to Tampa, Orlando, LAX, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, etc.  The airport can be a real economic driver if it would promote, advertise & look to grow.   I just don't understand the timidity.  

And no Streets, I don't see other forms of transportation being behind lack of growth compared to other airports.  They fell farther than Eppley in years past.  Lincoln fell very far so improvement in numbers would skew the uptick.

[l-dude]

Another possible (I think probable) contributor is the Management at Eppley.  Approximately three (?) years ago, Omaha's longtime manager, Don Smithy, retired after many years in Omaha and relocated to West Des Moines ...(don't remember why... original family home there, or adult children, grandchildren live in the area, something like that), and Smithy's assistant at Eppley was promoted to Manager.  Anyway, as I recall, several years ago the Des Moines airport manager left to  be the manager (or whatever the Air Force calls the position) at Bellevue's Offutt Air Force base.  The Des Moines airport board asked Smithy to fill in temporarily until they could find a permanent  manager.  Smithy really started to improve things, like flight schedules, airport facilities, car rental issues, etc., and whatever happened, Smithy took the job permanently within his first year.  Evidently Smithy is well regarded among the airlines and airport management community (which markedly helped Eppley while serving as it's manager), which I believe is important now to Des Moines growth, and has siphoned some of Eppley's west Iowa business.  Omaha's current management either lacks the contacts/experience they used to have, or the Des Moines, Omaha airline passenger market is being re-carved, rather than growing.  Most of the background on this issue is still available in the OWH archives, Des Moines International airport Board meeting minutes, etc.

[Mr.Nuke]

2012 should be a huge bump for Eppley with NCAA BB and the swimming trials.

In the grand scheme of things both are most likely inconsequential.  With the NCAA tournament you will get a couple of extra charters for teams flying into Omaha that weren't on the books last year.  Otherwise for both events you may see higher load factors on scheduled flights for a couple of days on both sides of either event.

[Mr.Nuke]

Eppley is in a lull.

Right now, I’d agree with that to an extent.  

No Southwest expansion.  No new service outisde of Usair to Charlotte.  Now DSM is going to get Southwest.  It's time Eppley got agressive with the carriers.  I don't know if they are but there really isn't any proof of it.

This is where I’m borderline different/ near the point of disagreement.  The legacies very rarely fly point-to-point non hub anymore.  So we are basically coming down to Southwest.  At the same time Southwest just gobbled one of their competitors in AirTran and is a big enough player in the market to keep someone like Allegiant from entering.  

The time is long passed for year round service to Tampa, Orlando, LAX, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, etc.  The airport can be a real economic driver if it would promote, advertise & look to grow.   I just don't understand the timidity.  

I’m more of the opinion of if the demand was there someone would be serving the market.  We’ve seen two or three different carriers try to serve LAX and TPA and MCO appear to be seasonal direct markets at best.  SFO, SEA, and BWI are pipedreams.  If you're lucky you get Southwest to serve Orlando regularly, and if you are really lucky you maybe get a "new" United to serve LAX (despite the fact that United/Continental reductions appear to be a huge part of Omaha's recent slip).  If an airport like DSM starts to see regular service to BWI, SEA, SFO, or LAX then we can talk.  It doesn't help that one of the two airlines in this market that showed some creativity in this market (Frontier formerly Midwest) is financially screwed.

[joleo]

The big difference is that Des Moines started doing revenue guarantees for new service.  They did this for United nonstop to LAX from Des Moines.  Frontier to Denver.  American and Delta to bring in mainline jets in place of regional jets.  They did it for Airtran and now Southwest.  

In this day and age, Omaha could see lots of new cities served if they offered the same revenue guarantees that Des Moines does.  This may be a bill of millions of dollars per year but the economic impact of this over time for the city is huge!!!  Cities all around the nation are doing this to be frank, in this airline environment, you have to do it if you want new service.  Even the big airports do it, just for international service and not domestic.  

Right now, you won't see 2012 be a good year in Omaha.  Planes are full year round and Omaha already averaged upwards of 95% full planes last June.  How can Eppley handle more passengers for the swim trials if planes are already full?  The answer is additional service which isn't happening.  United had downsized Eppley significantly in the past year, Airtran dropped Milwaukee service and the 2 additional US Air flights to Charlotte doesn't begin to offset this change.  (not to mentioning the pending announcement of the end to Milwaukee on Frontier too).  All the other airlines are flat at best with the number of seats to Eppley except Delta...might be up just a freckle but just announced they are reducing Omaha to Salt Lake to 2x daily vs 3x...so probably back to flat again.

Moral of story...if Omaha wants to grow and get new service, they have to offer revenue guarantees for the airlines.  If they did this, I could see year round service to LAX, SFO and IAD on United, BWI and MSP on Southwest, US Air to PHL and maybe even a new airline like JetBlue or Spirit.  The possibilities are endless!!!

Does anybody know the background on why in the world Eppley and the City of Omaha won't get on the band wagon to get more flights??!!!!

[Candleshoe]

Central Nebraska Regional Airport boardings in the First Quarter

Jan 2012:  4514   January 2011:   3207
Feb 2012:  4701   February 2011: 3496
March 2012: 5625   March 2011:  4709

2012: 14,840   2011: 11,412   (+30%)

[OMATOL]

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/149554685.html

Today Frontier announced they will cut even more flights at Milwaukee. One June 1, Omaha will lose the 2x day flights we currently have to MKE. Frontier will still serve Denver (5x day), DC (2x day), LA (3x week), and Orlando from OMA. Its sad for MKE, after these cutbacks take effect, OMA will have more Frontier flights than MKE will (8ish to 7).

[Candleshoe]

Calendar year 2012 enplanement stats were recently released. Here are a few select airports for your comparison enjoyment.

(Sorry, I don't know how to format with Excel to look nice and tidy on here...


City        Airport Name       CY 12 Enplanements    CY 11 Enplanements % Change

St. Louis … Lambert-St Louis International … 6,208,750 … 6,159,090 … 0.81%
Kansas City … Kansas City International … 4,866,850 … 5,011,000 … -2.88%
Omaha … Eppley Airfield … 2,018,738 … 2,047,055 … -1.38%
Oklahoma City … Will Rogers World … 1,801,650 … 1,738,438 … 3.64%
Des Moines … Des Moines International … 1,018,188 … 932,828 … 9.15%
Wichita … Wichita Mid-Continent … 735,270 … 740,675 … -0.73%
Cedar Rapids … The Eastern Iowa … 491,806 … 431,874 … 13.88%
Sioux Falls … Joe Foss Field … 453,007 … 423,288 … 7.02%
Moline … Quad City International … 396,460 … 412,470 … -3.88%
Fargo … Hector International … 369,969 … 346,459 … 6.79%
Springfield … Springfield-Branson National … 364,689 … 349,091 … 4.47%
Rapid City … Rapid City Regional … 252,592 … 254,292 … -0.67%
Minot … Minot International … 222,188 … 151,424 … 46.73%
Lincoln … Lincoln … 135,085 … 135,647 … -0.41%
Manhattan … Manhattan Regional … 69,038 … 58,672 … 17.67%
Grand Island … Central Nebraska Regional … 56,138 … 47,167 … 19.02%
Columbia … Columbia Regional … 41,573 … 40,990 … 1.42%
Dubuque … Dubuque Regional … 32,389 … 36,148 … -10.40%
Sioux City … Sioux Gateway/Col. Bud Day Field … 27,168 … 28,137 … -3.44%
Waterloo … Waterloo Regional … 19,522 … 22,297 … -12.45%
Garden City … Garden City Regional … 18,375 … 11,690 … 57.19%
Kearney … Kearney Regional … 12,480 … 11,019 … 13.26%
North Platte … North Platte Regional Airport Lee Bird Field … 11,210 … 10,962 … 2.26%
Liberal … Liberal Mid-America Regional … 10,487 … 8,007 … 30.97%
Hays … Hays Regional … 10,381 … 11,397 … -8.91%
Scottsbluff … Western Nebraska Regional/William B. Heilig Field … 10,356 … 9,912 … 4.48%
Salina … Salina Regional … 3,526 … 2,857 … 23.42%

[gisbuxfan]

Calendar year 2012 enplanement stats were recently released. Here are a few select airports for your comparison enjoyment.

(Sorry, I don't know how to format with Excel to look nice and tidy on here...


City        Airport Name       CY 12 Enplanements    CY 11 Enplanements % Change

St. Louis … Lambert-St Louis International … 6,208,750 … 6,159,090 … 0.81%
Kansas City … Kansas City International … 4,866,850 … 5,011,000 … -2.88%
Omaha … Eppley Airfield … 2,018,738 … 2,047,055 … -1.38%
Oklahoma City … Will Rogers World … 1,801,650 … 1,738,438 … 3.64%
Des Moines … Des Moines International … 1,018,188 … 932,828 … 9.15%
Wichita … Wichita Mid-Continent … 735,270 … 740,675 … -0.73%
Cedar Rapids … The Eastern Iowa … 491,806 … 431,874 … 13.88%
Sioux Falls … Joe Foss Field … 453,007 … 423,288 … 7.02%
Moline … Quad City International … 396,460 … 412,470 … -3.88%
Fargo … Hector International … 369,969 … 346,459 … 6.79%
Springfield … Springfield-Branson National … 364,689 … 349,091 … 4.47%
Rapid City … Rapid City Regional … 252,592 … 254,292 … -0.67%
Minot … Minot International … 222,188 … 151,424 … 46.73%
Lincoln … Lincoln … 135,085 … 135,647 … -0.41%
Manhattan … Manhattan Regional … 69,038 … 58,672 … 17.67%
Grand Island … Central Nebraska Regional … 56,138 … 47,167 … 19.02%
Columbia … Columbia Regional … 41,573 … 40,990 … 1.42%
Dubuque … Dubuque Regional … 32,389 … 36,148 … -10.40%
Sioux City … Sioux Gateway/Col. Bud Day Field … 27,168 … 28,137 … -3.44%
Waterloo … Waterloo Regional … 19,522 … 22,297 … -12.45%
Garden City … Garden City Regional … 18,375 … 11,690 … 57.19%
Kearney … Kearney Regional … 12,480 … 11,019 … 13.26%
North Platte … North Platte Regional Airport Lee Bird Field … 11,210 … 10,962 … 2.26%
Liberal … Liberal Mid-America Regional … 10,487 … 8,007 … 30.97%
Hays … Hays Regional … 10,381 … 11,397 … -8.91%
Scottsbluff … Western Nebraska Regional/William B. Heilig Field … 10,356 … 9,912 … 4.48%
Salina … Salina Regional … 3,526 … 2,857 … 23.42%

I love seeing Grand Island as one of the top spots on that list. Although, I am blown away by Minot, ND. That must be the oil rush up there.

[Omababe]

I love seeing Grand Island as one of the top spots on that list. Although, I am blown away by Minot, ND. That must be the oil rush up there.

Looks like everything served by Allegiant had quite a bump!

[iamjacobm]

So are these numbers different from the 4 million or so I always see attached to Eppley?  Maybe I am going crazy and making that number up.

[guitarguy]

I was wondering the same thing.. There is no way that Eppley traffic has been cut in half in a couple years!

[iamjacobm]

I was wondering the same thing.. There is no way that Eppley traffic has been cut in half in a couple years!

I guess google can be my friend.  "Enplanement" means to board a plane.  In theory the total traffic would be roughly double that giving us the trusty 4 million+ number I had always seen.

[OMATOL]

Enplanements are how the aviation industry measures passengers. Like someone said, an enplanement is every revenue passenger that boards a plane. This means all those airline employees that fly for free around the country are not counted. The FAA is usually 9 months behind in releasing the previous year's statistics.

[iamjacobm]

This didn't dawn on me till now, but it is a little disappointing to see our numbers drop from 2011 to 2012 considering that we had the Swim Trials and NCAA Basketball tournament and you would hope a growing city would see numbers at least sustain.

[RomeoSierra1984]

After reviewing the carrier information, looks to be about right. I think there are a few things here to consider:

1. Overall trend in travel.
2. Scaling back of service - difference between frequency and cities served now and during growth period.
3. GRI and DSM- those increases DIRECTLY effect numbers at OMA. With their continued expansion and draw, OMA loses potential passangers. Good for them!

I do not think it indicates anything regarding Omaha's "growth"- a small decrease is not bad.

I would imagine with Southwest's international service starting soon and their major operation at HOU- we might see that city added.

P.S. Mexico service from Omaha would do well. BWI would do well. And why is there no service to SFO or LAX????

New hear somebody explaine how there is no LA (any airport) service now? (I know the numbers and see the unsuccessful service history already, but the numbers seem to be there)

Anybody know how the Alaska service is doing?

Thanks!!

[Omababe]

After reviewing the carrier information, looks to be about right. I think there are a few things here to consider:

1. Overall trend in travel.

One trend that has me flying less for short trips is the increase in airfare.

I ended up driving twice to Chicago this past year. Up until a couple of years ago you could always get airfare to Chicago that was cheaper than driving. I only had that once this year!

I would imagine with Southwest's international service starting soon

What Southwest international service?

[RomeoSierra1984]

Southwest will begin serving Mexico and Central and South America. They have invested a significant amount of money at the Hobby Airport building an international terminal. Apparently HOU and MDW will serve as major connection airports for the expansion.

Interesting to me... I am a big believer in if you are a business and you do what you do well- then stick to that. But I think they must see potential. They have ordered larger 737's which increases range and seats. I assume they would use those?

Must have cost them a pretty penny- they announced they are cutting-out three cities they already serve in mid 2014.

[Omababe]

I guess I should read that in-flight mag huh?

Must have cost them a pretty penny- they announced they are cutting-out three cities they already serve in mid 2014.

I knew they were cutting Branson ("just like Las Vegas without the fun") but I wasn't aware of any others. I heard this (Branson) from one of the FAs on a recent flight. He was saying there was very little traffic on that route.

[RomeoSierra1984]

You are correct. Looks like it was in October's mag.

You could also add it to your google alerts. I do that with a few of them.

[iamjacobm]

Eppley saw 1.9% increase in 2014.