Omaha Forums

Ben wrote:With the north garage (rental cars) currently under reconstruction, there's a huge limit on available parking, as the temporary rental car spot takes up a bunch of the south lot. Between the 2 on-airport lots, there were less than 2 dozen available long term spots.... That's clearly going to cause an issue come Thanksgiving/Christmas time.

Yes, it was a total mess in the south lot on this last trip.

I guess the canopy lot is no more, so that makes the (very expensive) main structure the only option if you don't want to risk a snow-buried car on returning.

Omababe wrote:

Ben wrote:With the north garage (rental cars) currently under reconstruction, there's a huge limit on available parking, as the temporary rental car spot takes up a bunch of the south lot. Between the 2 on-airport lots, there were less than 2 dozen available long term spots.... That's clearly going to cause an issue come Thanksgiving/Christmas time.

Yes, it was a total mess in the south lot on this last trip.

I guess the canopy lot is no more, so that makes the (very expensive) main structure the only option if you don't want to risk a snow-buried car on returning.

Did the Abbott North parking lot close? (they shut down their southern lot years ago). I shot by there the other day and it looked empty.

Greg

Greg S wrote:Did the Abbott North parking lot close?

Abbott Airport Parking (the company) closed permanently a few years ago.

Omababe wrote:
I guess the canopy lot is no more, so that makes the (very expensive) main structure the only option if you don't want to risk a snow-buried car on returning.

What happened to the canopy lot?

bigredmed1 wrote:

Omababe wrote:
I guess the canopy lot is no more, so that makes the (very expensive) main structure the only option if you don't want to risk a snow-buried car on returning.

What happened to the canopy lot?

It is where the temporary rental car facility is being located.

Omaha_corn_burner wrote:

Greg S wrote:Did the Abbott North parking lot close?

Abbott Airport Parking (the company) closed permanently a few years ago.

Thanks. Can't believe I missed that on previous trips by the airport. With the current construction surprised no one is opening on that lot.

Greg

Here's a little trivia about Abbott. It was purchased from the original developer by a man who moved to Omaha from Germany. He did so well with the south location he built the north one. He loved it so much he changed his last name to Abbott. He was previously Michael Schmid. I don't know what happened that he closed it. Or maybe he sold it and the new owner closed it. The south location seems to me to be prime land. You'd think someone would want to develop it.

Which brings me to another question. I know downtown is extremely close to the airport but I wonder why no one has built a bigger, nicer hotel near the airport than the standard issue relatively budget ones that are near the airport.

NovakOmaha wrote:Here's a little trivia about Abbott. It was purchased from the original developer by a man who moved to Omaha from Germany. He did so well with the south location he built the north one. He loved it so much he changed his last name to Abbott. He was previously Michael Schmid. I don't know what happened that he closed it. Or maybe he sold it and the new owner closed it. The south location seems to me to be prime land. You'd think someone would want to develop it.

Which brings me to another question. I know downtown is extremely close to the airport but I wonder why no one has built a bigger, nicer hotel near the airport than the standard issue relatively budget ones that are near the airport.

There used to be at least one hotel on the property. Can't remember anything about it, other than it had an outdoor pool. Wasn't a high rise, more of a motor court deal. Taking a stab, I'd guess it was near the south end of the parking garage. It was gone or was going by 1976.

NovakOmaha wrote:Here's a little trivia about Abbott. It was purchased from the original developer by a man who moved to Omaha from Germany. He did so well with the south location he built the north one. He loved it so much he changed his last name to Abbott. He was previously Michael Schmid.

I went to middle and high school with his daughter and knew her under both last names.

NovakOmaha wrote: I don't know what happened that he closed it. Or maybe he sold it and the new owner closed it. The south location seems to me to be prime land. You'd think someone would want to develop it.

I can't say for certain, but the current ownership as well as World-Herald archives strongly point to bankruptcy/foreclosure. Park N' Go entered the market in 2001. By 2002, combined with the increase in parking spaces as well as the drop off in demand due to post 9/11 air travel declines, the W-H was running stories about price wars. An article cited Abbott as going to an online bidding system and offering parking as low as $2 a day compared to standard $5-6 daily rates a year prior.

By 2004 the South lot was for sale according to the W-H and Abbott because there were too many "serious buyers" and there were too many parking spaces for the level of demand at the airport. The latter is probably way more true than the former. Also the same year, he had floated using the South lot as overflow parking with shuttles to the newly opened Qwest Center/Convention Center, another sign that things were getting desperate. At the same time he stated the North parking lot would start offering upscale limo type buses to deliver people to and from the airport, which also reeks of desperation.

According to Douglas County GIS data neither property has sold since the dates which would make sense corresponding with Abbott's purchases, and both were handed over from a lawyer who I can find other records of handling forfeitures to the same bank for $0 in 2010.

Edit: This lawsuit provides some insight that corroborates what I suspected. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ne-supreme-c ... 67733.html

NovakOmaha wrote: Which brings me to another question. I know downtown is extremely close to the airport but I wonder why no one has built a bigger, nicer hotel near the airport than the standard issue relatively budget ones that are near the airport.

It is precisely because downtown is extremely close to the airport. It is a 5 minute drive to a ton of rooms at nice hotels closer to downtown amenities. That combined with the fact that there is virtually zero overnight connecting traffic in Omaha as well.

damonhynes wrote:

NovakOmaha wrote:Here's a little trivia about Abbott. It was purchased from the original developer by a man who moved to Omaha from Germany. He did so well with the south location he built the north one. He loved it so much he changed his last name to Abbott. He was previously Michael Schmid. I don't know what happened that he closed it. Or maybe he sold it and the new owner closed it. The south location seems to me to be prime land. You'd think someone would want to develop it.

Which brings me to another question. I know downtown is extremely close to the airport but I wonder why no one has built a bigger, nicer hotel near the airport than the standard issue relatively budget ones that are near the airport.

There used to be at least one hotel on the property. Can't remember anything about it, other than it had an outdoor pool. Wasn't a high rise, more of a motor court deal. Taking a stab, I'd guess it was near the south end of the parking garage. It was gone or was going by 1976.

It was the Airport Inn & was owned by the Blazek family that owned the New Tower at 76th & Dodge & the Ramada Airport at the northeast corner of Abbot & Locust. The Airport Inn was somewhat about where the new garage is being built. The motel was on land leased from the airport. It was a dumpy little motel but you could stay right at the airport if you had an early flight. It was torn down when the airport was remodeled/expanded as you said.

damonhynes wrote:There used to be at least one hotel on the property. Can't remember anything about it, other than it had an outdoor pool. Wasn't a high rise, more of a motor court deal. Taking a stab, I'd guess it was near the south end of the parking garage. It was gone or was going by 1976.

It was the Airport Inn. I stayed there a couple of times prior to moving here. It was decent but not luxurious by any means. I seem to remember that it had some connection to the Blackstone, maybe Schimmel or Radison management?

July numbers just came out. +6.4% for the month and +5.6% for the year to date. Alaska, on what I assume is the San Diego flights, was up 12.6%, but still a margin player. Allegiant was down 7.1%. Not sure what that's about. American down 1.9%, still up over 3% for the year. Delta was up 9.7%, stil down a touch for the year but maybe coming back. Frontier about even. Still up about 11% for the year but I see that leveling off. Southwest up 2.7% and United kicking <|expletive|> up over 26% for the month and 16.5% for the year.

All in all a strong performance. For fun & doing the forward math a 5.6% increase over last year would put it at 4,593,057. 2018 at 4,850,268. 2019 at 5,121,883. 2020 at 5,408,709. At that rate OMA could hit a billion passengers a year within.......

Allegiant appears to be developing a crappy reputation. Southwest and United tends to fly most places they do. Can't believe that we would risk a vacation over last minute cancelled flights when I could just use one of the other airlines.

On pace for 4.6 million passengers for 2017..

Record year- here's to more non stop destinations. Let's tune 30 into 32-35 before the end of the year ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

bigredmed1 wrote:Allegiant appears to be developing a crappy reputation.

Developing?

bigredmed1 wrote:Allegiant appears to be developing a crappy reputation. Southwest and United tends to fly most places they do. Can't believe that we would risk a vacation over last minute cancelled flights when I could just use one of the other airlines.

I have used Allegiant between here and St Pete several times and never had a bad experience.

NovakOmaha wrote:July numbers just came out. +6.4% for the month and +5.6% for the year to date. Alaska, on what I assume is the San Diego flights, was up 12.6%, but still a margin player. Allegiant was down 7.1%. Not sure what that's about. American down 1.9%, still up over 3% for the year. Delta was up 9.7%, stil down a touch for the year but maybe coming back. Frontier about even. Still up about 11% for the year but I see that leveling off. Southwest up 2.7% and United kicking <|expletive|> up over 26% for the month and 16.5% for the year.

All in all a strong performance. For fun & doing the forward math a 5.6% increase over last year would put it at 4,593,057. 2018 at 4,850,268. 2019 at 5,121,883. 2020 at 5,408,709. At that rate OMA could hit a billion passengers a year within.......

Alaska: San Diego start August 28th. The difference is using a bigger plane on their Seattle flights vs last summer is the gain. 737-900 vs 737-800.

Allegiant: They have switched from MD-80 (Old planes) to the Airbus A-319 (New planes). These hold 6% less people (156 vs 166). Also, only flying 2 days a week to 3 cities, the days could easily fall differently within the month making for 1-2 less flights than the previous year. Either way, down 7% is what was to be expected. All their flights this fall from Omaha are on their new Airbus planes. These are MUCH more reliable and the 6 or so aircraft that were all problems on reliability in their fleet have all now been removed.

American down slightly: They switched their LAX flights to a 76 seat regional jet vs a full size Airbus. On the flip side, they flew one extra regional jet flight to DFW. Down 1.9% is in the realm of to be expected.

Delta: Up 9.7%. Didn't follow them, didn't realize they had increased plane sizes over last year. Pleasant surprise.

United: Lots more mainline vs regional jets vs last year. This large increase is nice and to be expected.

Frontier: Same size planes as last year and same frequency.

Southwest: They flew 2 more flights this year per day in July than last year. This should have been an increase of 6%-7%. Southwest's load factor will be down this July vs a year ago if I'm calculating things correctly.

Make it 31 destination airports. Frontier to Ft Myers, seasonal.

Holy cow. OMA in August was up 12.3% and for the year up 6.5%. All the airlines were up.

Alaska up 15%, probably due to San Diego service.
American up 6.9%
Allegiant up 2.8%
Delta up 18.1%
Fontier up 2.4% and added seasonal to Ft. Myers
Southwest up 7.6%
United up 21.3%

Nobody appeared to cannlbaiize anyone else. Lincoln was down but not by a huge amount. For what it's worth, DSM was up 4.6% for the month and 4.3% for the year, KCI was up 6.5% for the month and 5.33 for the year.

So carrying it forward to the end of the year, and I'm going to guess that September figures will be impacted by hurricanes, it is now a relative sure thing that OMA will finish the year with well over 4.6 million and possibly well over 4.7 million. It is not unreasonable to think that 2018 could break 5 million.

All good to hear. Keep in mind 2018 has the NCAA Men's Basketball regional here as well.

NovakOmaha wrote:Holy cow. OMA in August was up 12.3% and for the year up 6.5%. All the airlines were up.

Alaska up 15%, probably due to San Diego service.
American up 6.9%
Allegiant up 2.8%
Delta up 18.1%
Fontier up 2.4% and added seasonal to Ft. Myers
Southwest up 7.6%
United up 21.3%

Nobody appeared to cannlbaiize anyone else. Lincoln was down but not by a huge amount. For what it's worth, DSM was up 4.6% for the month and 4.3% for the year, KCI was up 6.5% for the month and 5.33 for the year.

So carrying it forward to the end of the year, and I'm going to guess that September figures will be impacted by hurricanes, it is now a relative sure thing that OMA will finish the year with well over 4.6 million and possibly well over 4.7 million. It is not unreasonable to think that 2018 could break 5 million.

That % increase is incredible.. I agree. It appears 4.6 million for 2017 will be swallowed up and smashed..

On to 5 million ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Omaha Cowboy wrote:

NovakOmaha wrote:Holy cow. OMA in August was up 12.3% and for the year up 6.5%. All the airlines were up.

Alaska up 15%, probably due to San Diego service.
American up 6.9%
Allegiant up 2.8%
Delta up 18.1%
Fontier up 2.4% and added seasonal to Ft. Myers
Southwest up 7.6%
United up 21.3%

Nobody appeared to cannlbaiize anyone else. Lincoln was down but not by a huge amount. For what it's worth, DSM was up 4.6% for the month and 4.3% for the year, KCI was up 6.5% for the month and 5.33 for the year.

So carrying it forward to the end of the year, and I'm going to guess that September figures will be impacted by hurricanes, it is now a relative sure thing that OMA will finish the year with well over 4.6 million and possibly well over 4.7 million. It is not unreasonable to think that 2018 could break 5 million.

That % increase is incredible.. I agree. It appears 4.6 million for 2017 will be swallowed up and smashed..

On to 5 million ...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Yes, I was BLOWN AWAY when I saw that yesterday...12%??!!!
A couple of comments: Why was Delta up 18%?!! I didn't realize they had that large of increase in seats!!
United...they had a ton more mainline this year vs last year, + OMA-SFO started in September last year so that wasn't figured in either.
Alaska...San Diego started August 28th, not really in the August numbers. The main increase looks like was Seattle. Seattle was flown with a 737-900 vs a 737-800 last year, which was about a 10% increase in seats and the rest came from an increased Load Factor.

September: Yes, this will be hurt by hurricanes affecting stuff. I still expect a nice increase though of 5% or so...time will tell!

Phase I in process of design, I'd imagine out for bid soon thereafter. Phase I is additional gates added to north concourse and the attached central utility plant.

Something else recently brought up, two-tier front drive. While an upper deck for departures was included in previous plans, the latest did not call for that. It has since been identified as a priority and being studied where the suspected outcome will be the drive separation is already needed.

***i have a picture of the phase I layout, if it's not shown it's because it won't let me attach. Somebody tell me how to attach image from photo album on my iPhone please

Are you saying they have firm plans? Like beyond just the studies/visions that have been posted?

Ryan Air wrote:Phase I in process of design, I'd imagine out for bid soon thereafter. Phase I is additional gates added to north concourse and the attached central utility plant.

Something else recently brought up, two-tier front drive. While an upper deck for departures was included in previous plans, the latest did not call for that. It has since been identified as a priority and being studied where the suspected outcome will be the drive separation is already needed.

***i have a picture of the phase I layout, if it's not shown it's because it won't let me attach. Somebody tell me how to attach image from photo album on my iPhone please

Here's a link to a wowt story regarding OMA's expansion. There are links on the right that show the plan as of the date of the story. I'm sure it's changed by now.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Eppl ... 96251.html

We flew into the north concourse today, on SW. The entire tarmac area north of the north terminal is torn up, and the gates on the west side of the north terminal are now unusable. Not sure what is going on.

NovakOmaha wrote:

Ryan Air wrote:Phase I in process of design, I'd imagine out for bid soon thereafter. Phase I is additional gates added to north concourse and the attached central utility plant.

Something else recently brought up, two-tier front drive. While an upper deck for departures was included in previous plans, the latest did not call for that. It has since been identified as a priority and being studied where the suspected outcome will be the drive separation is already needed.

***i have a picture of the phase I layout, if it's not shown it's because it won't let me attach. Somebody tell me how to attach image from photo album on my iPhone please

Here's a link to a wowt story regarding OMA's expansion. There are links on the right that show the plan as of the date of the story. I'm sure it's changed by now.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Eppl ... 96251.html

It's not the entire plan I have. The pic/diagram is only phase I
Also, the original plan has no mention of front drive either.

The master plan is always general. As pieces are ready for implementation, a design firm is selected for the actual design. At that point, once the design is selected, it is placed out for bids. Bids are reviewed and selected at OAA board meeting. Phase I is at design (phase II and III are as well - since the bid notice requests the desire for it to be the same firm). Phase I Is an immediate need.
I believe the magic number for phase I is listed at 4.7 million. Realistically we are looking at construction of phase I to begin 2018. Phase II Is likely 3-5 years off- unless for some reason they decide to do it earlier.

I find it interesting that construction for two deck drive seems to be an immediate concern. Maybe even constructing it prior to the terminal overhaul- requiring departure (drop off) on level 2, where passengers would go down escalator to check in? And removal or skywalk?
Interesting that it's described as a safety and efficiency concern. All the above is 100% true.

Now where I speculate is the fact the drive and construction issues, plus odd check in process (combined with recent significant baggage handling complaints), seems to draw out major convenience concerns longer by 2-3 years by waiting for the increase from 4.7 to 5 million. Maybe they'll say "close enough- let's just get it done now in a manner using convenience and access/use as the main implementation factors, rather than passengers. But I don't know.

The torn up tarmac is exactly where the north concourse extension would be, but the design just went to big at the beginning of August. Very, very unlikely all that would be completed and ready for construction this quickly, especially since I see no other mention in OAA meeting minutes. I'm guessing what we're seeing is infrastructure related for expansion (sewer etc)

How do I shrink an image to not be big?

Ryan Air wrote:

NovakOmaha wrote:

Ryan Air wrote:Phase I in process of design, I'd imagine out for bid soon thereafter. Phase I is additional gates added to north concourse and the attached central utility plant.

Something else recently brought up, two-tier front drive. While an upper deck for departures was included in previous plans, the latest did not call for that. It has since been identified as a priority and being studied where the suspected outcome will be the drive separation is already needed.

***i have a picture of the phase I layout, if it's not shown it's because it won't let me attach. Somebody tell me how to attach image from photo album on my iPhone please

Here's a link to a wowt story regarding OMA's expansion. There are links on the right that show the plan as of the date of the story. I'm sure it's changed by now.

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Eppl ... 96251.html

It's not the entire plan I have. The pic/diagram is only phase I
Also, the original plan has no mention of front drive either.

The master plan is always general. As pieces are ready for implementation, a design firm is selected for the actual design. At that point, once the design is selected, it is placed out for bids. Bids are reviewed and selected at OAA board meeting. Phase I is at design (phase II and III are as well - since the bid notice requests the desire for it to be the same firm). Phase I Is an immediate need.
I believe the magic number for phase I is listed at 4.7 million. Realistically we are looking at construction of phase I to begin 2018. Phase II Is likely 3-5 years off- unless for some reason they decide to do it earlier.

I find it interesting that construction for two deck drive seems to be an immediate concern. Maybe even constructing it prior to the terminal overhaul- requiring departure (drop off) on level 2, where passengers would go down escalator to check in? And removal or skywalk?
Interesting that it's described as a safety and efficiency concern. All the above is 100% true.

Now where I speculate is the fact the drive and construction issues, plus odd check in process (combined with recent significant baggage handling complaints), seems to draw out major convenience concerns longer by 2-3 years by waiting for the increase from 4.7 to 5 million. Maybe they'll say "close enough- let's just get it done now in a manner using convenience and access/use as the main implementation factors, rather than passengers. But I don't know.

The torn up tarmac is exactly where the north concourse extension would be, but the design just went to big at the beginning of August. Very, very unlikely all that would be completed and ready for construction this quickly, especially since I see no other mention in OAA meeting minutes. I'm guessing what we're seeing is infrastructure related for expansion (sewer etc)

How do I shrink an image to not be big?

Found a published pic of what I have in the PFC application from July - page 10 in this link

https://flyoma.com/images/pdfs/OMA%20PF ... Notice.pdf

The tarmac replacement is part of the long term plan. It's not part of the terminal expansion. The expansion of the north terminal includes 4 new gates to replace three gates lost to ultimate expansion. Maybe a call to the airport authority would answer some questions. I'd suggest the owh or one of the tv stations make the call but they seem to take their cues from this forum. Anyone want to do their legwork for them and make the call then report back here so they can do a story in a week or two? It would just be a few minutes on the phone & I'm sure they would answer their questions.

NovakOmaha wrote:The tarmac replacement is part of the long term plan. It's not part of the terminal expansion. The expansion of the north terminal includes 4 new gates to replace three gates lost to ultimate expansion. Maybe a call to the airport authority would answer some questions. I'd suggest the owh or one of the tv stations make the call but they seem to take their cues from this forum. Anyone want to do their legwork for them and make the call then report back here so they can do a story in a week or two? It would just be a few minutes on the phone & I'm sure they would answer their questions.

Bahahahahahahahaha - love it.

I did talk to an OAA engineer - that's where I got the front drive info from

I get the gate increase isn't big (net 1) - we have enough gates, that's not the issue... is the circular (our case square) configuration. Need more space!

From a current gate utilization, now is about the most optimal time you could hope for. While you temporarily lose up to three gates in the North terminal you also currently have exactly three gates currently unoccupied. United for sure and Southwest may have to do some gate shifting though. Those 4 new gates are absolutely essential going forward with Phase 2 and 3 as they'll allow temporary re-location for displaced carriers as construction starts on the linear terminal down the road; obviously why it is in phase 1 to begin with.

Ryan Air wrote:

NovakOmaha wrote:The tarmac replacement is part of the long term plan. It's not part of the terminal expansion. The expansion of the north terminal includes 4 new gates to replace three gates lost to ultimate expansion. Maybe a call to the airport authority would answer some questions. I'd suggest the owh or one of the tv stations make the call but they seem to take their cues from this forum. Anyone want to do their legwork for them and make the call then report back here so they can do a story in a week or two? It would just be a few minutes on the phone & I'm sure they would answer their questions.

Bahahahahahahahaha - love it.

I did talk to an OAA engineer - that's where I got the front drive info from

I get the gate increase isn't big (net 1) - we have enough gates, that's not the issue... is the circular (our case square) configuration. Need more space!

I had a feeling you did talk with someone at the OAA. Your info sounded pretty sound.

Here are the pics:

Frontier/Eppley are holding a 10 a.m. press conference to announce new routes.

Mr.Nuke wrote:Frontier/Eppley are holding a 10 a.m. press conference to announce new routes. Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are already on their website.

Frontier made a big announcement a few months ago when they made a big expansion splash and Omaha was left out. Glad to see they decided to jump in.

Also unless that north expansion is expecting 747s that drawing looks way out of scale.

Coyote wrote:Here are the pics:

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

The pilot of the plane nearest the current north satellite really threaded the needle.

1 more new destination for Omaha. Frontier is going to offer non-daily service to Philadelphia, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
http://www.omaha.com/money/frontier-air ... d7919.html

And with Philly OMA now has 32 non stop destinations. I still think Boston is a strong candidate. JFK, BWI, Dulles too.

Anyone know how many flights per day leave OMA? Over 100?

NovakOmaha wrote:And with Philly OMA now has 32 non stop destinations. I still think Boston is a strong candidate. JFK, BWI, Dulles too.

Anyone know how many flights per day leave OMA? Over 100?

And with PHL being an AmericAAn hub and all. I'd been wondering when AA would do PHL and this either means 1. Not likely or 2. Massive retaliation with mainline jets and slashed fares. I pick #1.

Just received an email that Allegiant will be flying non-stop to Ft Myers/Punta Gorda - Flights begin 12/14/2017