Eppley passengers numbers

[Bob from Omaha]

The April numbers are out. Eppley is performing better than the others in the region by a wide margin.

Airport month year
Eppley -1.5% -4.6%
Lincoln -14% -16%
Des Moines -11.75% -13.56%
Kansas CIty -11.82% -15.34%

Others can spin it all they want but OMA is the one not in double digit losses. I still wonder when Southwest is going to wake up and add some flights at Eppley...Orlando, BWI, LAX, etc.

Actually, there will be come downsizing going on in the future. Southwest is going from 3x to 2x daily to Las Vegas, even though load factors are currently between 85-95%. Northwest is moving all flights out of Memphis to RJs and removing some mainline from Minneapolis in favor of CRJ9s. I have heard that Frontier might be introducing Q400 turboprops from Denver, slowly removing Airbus mainline flights.

Even though the passengers numbers are encouraging, things look "interesting" on the horizon.

LUV did that before & after a while they reinstated 3x. Hopefully they will again. By the way, LUV does a weekend run to BWI from OKC. I still dont get why LUV doesnt pick up Oma to BWI, Orlando, LAX, etc. Or even UA to LAX or DC like they do from OKC. You'd think it would be a no brainer for them.

It will be interesting to see what Republic does with Midwest and Frontier.

There is an interesting airline called Spirit that flies from here in Detroit to Florida and some other places. They run hellish fare specials sometimes $8 and up.

[joleo]

Actually, there will be come downsizing going on in the future. Southwest is going from 3x to 2x daily to Las Vegas, even though load factors are currently between 85-95%. Northwest is moving all flights out of Memphis to RJs and removing some mainline from Minneapolis in favor of CRJ9s. I have heard that Frontier might be introducing Q400 turboprops from Denver, slowly removing Airbus mainline flights.

Even though the passengers numbers are encouraging, things look "interesting" on the horizon.

OMA-DEN on Frontier goes from 4xA319 to 1xA319 and 4x Q400 for net loss of 112 seats each way per day. (should help United's yields to Denver)

As you mentioned LAS goes to 2x instead of 3x.

Delta is back up to 3x CRJ to SLC but then switches to 2x CR7 come this fall. (small increase in seats over 2x CRJ)

United...stays about the same. Small increase in seats to Denver over last fall and decrease in seats to Chicago.

American..one less ERJ to Chicago from last fall at only 4x daily now.

Northwest(Delta): Minneapolis is about the same total seats as last fall, so is Memphis(give or take, schedule is constantly changing). Detroit increases with the switching of 2 of the 4 CRJ's to E175's instead.

[joleo]

United...stays about the same. Small increase in seats to Denver over last fall and decrease in seats to Chicago.

Small increase to Denver still in Check. United switch one of their 50 seat ERJ's for a 156 seat ex-TED A320 this fall. This now means that United should have a net increase in seats over last fall by at least 100 seats/ day. Helps to offset Frontiers loss.

The story with all the airlines is the flights seem to come and go. The only big losses over the past year or two have been the cease of Expressjet to Tuscon and Cali and the loss of Continental service to Cleveland. I really think the Cleveland service will be back in the next year or two though.

[Mr.Nuke]

I really think the Cleveland service will be back in the next year or two though.

I think it will be largely dependent on what Continental decides to do with Cleveland. They were certainly starting to build up CLE before the economic downturn. Whether or not they decide to resume the buildup when the economy recovers remains to be seen. If Continental presses forward with the expansion, then the return of Omaha-Cleveland service is a no brainer.

[Bob from Omaha]

Most of the June numbers are out. KCI probably will post theirs soon but my sense is that they are tanking as well.

OMA -3.1% for the month -4.2% for the year
LNK -5% for the month -14% for the year, but they lost the Delta flights to SLC and ATL
DSM -7.16% for the month -11.62% for the year

Grand Island scored twice a week flights on Allegiant to PHX. They are hustlers. How long before GRI outdoes LNK on numbers? It isn't as crazy as it sounds.

[Bob from Omaha]

Rank Airport U.S. Average Domestic Itinerary Fares Pct. Change
1Q 2001 1Q 2006 1Q 2007 1Q 2008 1Q 2009 2001-2009 2008-2009
Avg Average Domestic Itinerary Fare 347.72 323.34 317.84 334.84 314.94 -9.4 -5.9
30 Kansas City, MO 284.55 284.74 286.03 294.91 287.65 1.1 -2.5
57 Omaha, NE 306.80 313.92 311.63 320.80 303.23 -1.2 -5.5
63 Oklahoma City, OK 307.87 323.56 324.10 327.63 341.43 10.9 4.2
71 Tulsa, OK 303.59 314.54 318.43 326.02 320.29 5.5 -1.8
82 Des Moines, IA 413.32 403.52 393.21 414.64 402.98 -2.5 -2.8

What can we draw from these numbers? If you drive from Omaha to KC you're saving an average of $16. Driving from DSM to Omaha saves you about $100 per person. If you're going to drive from DSM, drive to Omaha instead of KC. The source is the US DOT.

[Bob from Omaha]

July Stats are out for all but KCI

Omaha down 4.8% for July and down 4.3% for the year to date.
Lincoln down 7% for the month and down 13% for the year to date.
Des Moines down 4.81% for the month and down 10.63% for the year.

The numbers are better in a way but LNK loses service the SLC and ATL soon and DSM loses service to SLC. Southwest is doing very well at OMA, as is Frontier although we'll see what the impact of Republic's purchase of Midwest and Frontier has.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

What can we draw from these numbers? If you drive from Omaha to KC you're saving an average of $16. Driving from DSM to Omaha saves you about $100 per person. If you're going to drive from DSM, drive to Omaha instead of KC. The source is the US DOT.

Absolutely. You can get from Des Moines to Omaha on half a tank of gas (and someday...TRAINS!). If you're looking to save money, that makes economic sense.

[MTO]

So has any airport gone bankrupt lately? The Lincoln airport has be close, I been by there a few times and it was a ghost town.

[Omababe]

So has any airport gone bankrupt lately? The Lincoln airport has be close, I been by there a few times and it was a ghost town.

I've flown out of LNK several times, and yes, it *IS* a ghost town except when a flight is about to take off or right after one lands. The planes there tend to be smaller, so the crowd dissipates rapidly.

Now that they lost Allegiant, I don't think they have any full size planes flying in/out of there anymore.

[gisbuxfan]

Now that they lost Allegiant, I don't think they have any full size planes flying in/out of there anymore.

Allegiant is doing well in Grand Island. In fact the airport just recorded its 10,000th passenger just last week. I am waiting for the airport board to release their August meeting notes, here is what Allegiant is up to as of July:

Page 1, Hall County Airport Authority Regular Meeting, July 8, 2009


Enplanements: Mr. Olson reported the first six months of the year we have enplaned 8335 passengers,
compared to 2758 passengers same time period last year. This represents a 200% increase. For June
2009 we enplaned 1365 passengers compared to 387 for June 2008. This represents a 253% increase
over the same period last year. Allegiant had a 93% passenger load factor or 1120 enplanements. This
represents 140 enplanements per flight. Great Lakes reported 245 enplanements.

Allegiant came out with a special for a limited time if you buy one air/hotel package deal to Las Vegas, the
second person flies free from Grand Island.

Mr. Olson presented Allegiants report for June and second quarter traffic report. Load factor for June
2009 was 91.5% and second quarter load factor was 90.8%. Average stage length for June 2009 is 882
miles, compared to 867 miles last year. Allegiant is trying to keep their stage length less than 1,000 miles
per flight.

[Bob from Omaha]

Now that they lost Allegiant, I don't think they have any full size planes flying in/out of there anymore.

Allegiant is doing well in Grand Island. In fact the airport just recorded its 10,000th passenger just last week. I am waiting for the airport board to release their August meeting notes, here is what Allegiant is up to as of July:

Page 1, Hall County Airport Authority Regular Meeting, July 8, 2009


Enplanements: Mr. Olson reported the first six months of the year we have enplaned 8335 passengers,
compared to 2758 passengers same time period last year. This represents a 200% increase. For June
2009 we enplaned 1365 passengers compared to 387 for June 2008. This represents a 253% increase
over the same period last year. Allegiant had a 93% passenger load factor or 1120 enplanements. This
represents 140 enplanements per flight. Great Lakes reported 245 enplanements.

Allegiant came out with a special for a limited time if you buy one air/hotel package deal to Las Vegas, the
second person flies free from Grand Island.

Mr. Olson presented Allegiants report for June and second quarter traffic report. Load factor for June
2009 was 91.5% and second quarter load factor was 90.8%. Average stage length for June 2009 is 882
miles, compared to 867 miles last year. Allegiant is trying to keep their stage length less than 1,000 miles
per flight.

Now GI has to push for Allegiant to fly to LAX, Orlando and/or Tampa, and maybe more frequency to PHX and LAS. It's amazing what's happening with GRI compared to LNK.

What's next for GRI? State Capital? You're on a roll.

[omaja]

I wouldn't put any money on LA, Orlando or Tampa any time soon if Allegiant is holding true to the last part of what gisbuxfan quoted, saying that they are trying to keep their average stage length at less than 1000 miles. GRI-LAX/SFB/PIE are all over 1200 miles, and there is no doubt less local demand to toy around with, too. Allegiant must be happy with the Las Vegas route to be adding Phoenix in October, but it's definitely not for the fares, rather the extras all those 90-percent-full planes are paying for (vacation/rental car/hotel packages, etc.). In any case, good on Grand Island for attracting and actively supporting the service.

Lincoln, on the other hand, never stood a chance with Allegiant. Competing against multiple daily Southwest 737s on OMA-LAS (not to mention connecting service on United and others) was just not happening. As far as Lincoln in general, it will always have anemic passenger numbers for primarily two reasons. The obvious one being Eppley and the relative ease of the drive up I-80. The other being that United dominates the market with easy connections to pretty much anywhere via Chicago and Denver. Delta tried to do the same with Atlanta/Minneapolis/Salt Lake City, but both Atlanta and Salt Lake City were too long and lacked frequency to work. With that said, LNK is certainly here to stay, if only as a distant secondary airport in the greater Omaha-Lincoln area. It seems to have its niche with United and Northwest and doesn't appear to need/warrant more.

[nativeomahan]

Not sure where to post this. I am siting here in the small (12 gates) Little Rock airport, using their free wi-fi, and note at least 2 Starbucks in airport. The food options, while not overwhelming, are still better than in Omaha. We flew through Memphis and they have a number of good food options, including two legendary local BBQ restaurants with I believe 4 total locations in the terminal. I realize OMA isn't MEM, but I really REALLY wish we could get better food options, plus more general seating places around the main terminal for people to use their laptops. Someone at the Omaha Airport Authority really isn't trying hard enough to create a truly user friendly airport experience for either tourists or business travelers. Why not get Wheatfield's or some place like that to open a small satellite location, selling sandwiches and wraps and quick type food? It would be great to get something like a Blue "Express" (no need for a kitchen!), but I guess I am just dreaming....

[S33]

Not sure where to post this. I am siting here in the small (12 gates) Little Rock airport, using their free wi-fi, and note at least 2 Starbucks in airport. The food options, while not overwhelming, are still better than in Omaha. We flew through Memphis and they have a number of good food options, including two legendary local BBQ restaurants with I believe 4 total locations in the terminal. I realize OMA isn't MEM, but I really REALLY wish we could get better food options, plus more general seating places around the main terminal for people to use their laptops. Someone at the Omaha Airport Authority really isn't trying hard enough to create a truly user friendly airport experience for either tourists or business travelers. Why not get Wheatfield's or some place like that to open a small satellite location, selling sandwiches and wraps and quick type food? It would be great to get something like a Blue "Express" (no need for a kitchen!), but I guess I am just dreaming....

Here's the problem...or not a problem depending on how you look at it. Omaha is a quick in and out airport and most people do not have the time to sit and eat. Secondly, it's in no way a hub type airport and has VERY few layover customers. It's just not that lucrative of a business in Eppley right now. Another 10-15 years or so, maybe. I think we would need to see passenger numbers in the 6-8 million range before you see many noticeable changes with shopping and restaurant options.

I can't speak for Little Rock as I have never been in that airport, but most airports Eppley's size have seemed very comparable in my experience.

[nativeomahan]

FYI: http://www.lrn-airport.com/
And I noted that each gate had a 46 inch (maybe larger) flat screen TV monitor flashing weather and airport info. That was on top of the monitors at each gate with the airline flight info.
LR is definitely no hub. Yet they had a food court and two bar/grills (one a sports bar, with about 10 flat screens which was absolutely packed at 4 pm), and all of these were after the screening area, so they were open only to passengers.

Omaha could do this if the airport powers that be wanted to. It is amazing what one can do if one only puts one's mind up to trying.

[S33]

FYI: http://www.lrn-airport.com/
And I noted that each gate had a 46 inch (maybe larger) flat screen TV monitor flashing weather and airport info. That was on top of the monitors at each gate with the airline flight info.
LR is definitely no hub. Yet they had a food court and two bar/grills (one a sports bar, with about 10 flat screens which was absolutely packed at 4 pm), and all of these were after the screening area, so they were open only to passengers.

Omaha could do this if the airport powers that be wanted to. It is amazing what one can do if one only puts one's mind up to trying.

Perhaps you are right. I just saw LR only has 2.1 mill passengers annually while Eppley has 4.4 mill.

[mrdwhsr]

I would take OMA Scooters over LR Starbucks anytime. Unless I'm running late, I'm eating before I get to Eppley..and if arriving at dinner time - I'd rather head downtown than eat in the terminal. I think the proximity to DT has something to do with the number of eateries and the seating available at OMA.
Maybe we could have an OLD MILL BBQ at Eppley?

[Bob from Omaha]

I recently flew into Eppley. It looks just fine as usual. Clean, easy to get in and out, etc.

Yeah TVs would be nice, upper and lower roadways would be nice, local restaurants would be ok, tho I tend to eat before I fly or after I land, at the restaurant.

As always, the best thing for Eppley is to agressively court more service and frequencies, such as Orlando, Tampa, DC, New York, Seattle, LAX, Frisco, San Diego, etc., as well as service to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Toronto, etc. Don Smithey was a great director and oversaw a great period of steady growth, but now its time to get more agressive and advertise in surrounding states, pointing out Eppleys advantages. It's also time to really push Southwest to grow in Omaha and Airtran as well. Jet Blue and the others probably aren't in the near term for OMA.

[nativeomahan]

Have you ever experienced a flight delay? Usually if they are more than 20 minutes they are more than an hour. So....people get hungry and thirsty. And no one wants to go through the hassle of going through airport security a second time. That is where multiple restaurants and bars need to be located. In the gate areas.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

I'd be willing to bet that those types of in-gate area amenities figure into the airport authority's expansion plans for the future.

[nativeomahan]

I'd be willing to bet that those types of in-gate area amenities figure into the airport authority's expansion plans for the future.

I'm not sure this should have to wait another 10 years to get done.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Have you ever experienced a flight delay? Usually if they are more than 20 minutes they are more than an hour. So....people get hungry and thirsty. And no one wants to go through the hassle of going through airport security a second time. That is where multiple restaurants and bars need to be located. In the gate areas.

I can't remember the last time I was delayed at Eppley.

[icejammer]

Have you ever experienced a flight delay? Usually if they are more than 20 minutes they are more than an hour. So....people get hungry and thirsty. And no one wants to go through the hassle of going through airport security a second time. That is where multiple restaurants and bars need to be located. In the gate areas.

I can't remember the last time I was delayed at Eppley.

You're lucky, nearly half of the last 20 flights out of Eppley that I've taken have been delayed (between 15 minutes and 2.5 hours), with 1 cancelled.

[Omababe]

I can't remember the last time I was delayed at Eppley.

You must have a short memory!

It's usually a result of the inbound flight getting delayed somewhere. Untied and Northwest/Delta seem to be the worst out of OMA. It even happens occasionally on Southwest. It seems to me like maybe 1 out of 10 flights out of OMA are late taking off.

[thenewguy]

I can't remember the last time I was delayed at Eppley.

...delayed somewhere. Untied and Northwest/Delta seem to be the worst...

I know it may get moved, but i couldn't resist

[TitosBuritoBarn]

I take that back, I had a United flight delayed last year. However, it was a flight to Houston about a day after the airport opened back up from the destruction of Hurricane Ike.

[nativeomahan]

I have had 2 flights out and out canceled. One when I had to go back home and fly out the next day. The other was delayed almost 3 hours....an hour at a time.

[Omababe]

I can't remember the last time I was delayed at Eppley.

...delayed somewhere. Untied and Northwest/Delta seem to be the worst...

I know it may get moved, but i couldn't resist

Surf here:

http://www.untied.com/

[Asten]

Have you ever experienced a flight delay? Usually if they are more than 20 minutes they are more than an hour. So....people get hungry and thirsty. And no one wants to go through the hassle of going through airport security a second time. That is where multiple restaurants and bars need to be located. In the gate areas.

Yep, last three delays I've had in OMA were due to problems in Chicago. I do love when my hour flight lasts 2.5.

[Bob from Omaha]

Eppley down .7% for the month, or about even, and down 3.6% for the year.

Lincoln has effectively been marginalized, now on an annualized 240,000 passengers, down from a peak of 1/2 million.

Des Moines and KCI haven't posted yet, which usually means bad news.

Eppley has outperformed DSM, LNK and KCI by a large margin this year, down marginally versus double digit losses for the others (ok, DSM, close to double digit losses, and that's without the coveted weekly flights to LAX and Florida).

Eppley needs to get aggressive both in going after more flights and destinations as well as advertising in it's 150 mile cachement area. Game on if you want to get to the next level. There is no reason Eppley can't have 5-7.5 million passengers per year, all things being equal.

[Bob from Omaha]

Eppley: Down 3.6% for the month and year.

Lincoln: Down 21% for the month and down 12% for the year.

Des Moines: Down 6.93% for the month and 8.19% for the year.

No word from KCI yet.

As has been the case all year, Eppley has lead the region all year in airport utilization. We'll see how the new service to Tampa and Orlando as well as the new service to Milwaukee work out. It sure would be nice to have year round service to Florida and California and some other cities. Bottom line here is to continue to grow the airport.

[Bob from Omaha]

The year end numbers are finally all out.

OMA down 3.5%
LNK down 14%
DSM down 7.59%
KCI down 6.61%

I think the storms during December had an impact or the numbers wouldn't have been as bad. Still, Eppley for the year seems to have fared better than the rest of the region. However, KCI seems to be trending upward a bit, as December about broke even year over year and has added some capacity back. We'll see how 2010 goes. It sure would be nice to see Midwest keep the flights to Tampa and Orlando...Southwest too.

[Mr.Nuke]

Eppley passenger numbers for January were down 2.4% versus January of 2009. For February they were down 1.5% for the month and 2% YTD.

DSM was up 3.6% for January
MCI was up 1.3% for January
LNK was down 9% for February and 11% for the year
GRI up 123% for January.

[Stargazer]

Interesting... Eppley down when others are up? I hear our housing market is down significantly more than other midwestern markets right now as well. Maybe we AREN'T recession proof... just lag a little.

[DTO Luv]

Damn. We're behind the times in everything

[Mr.Nuke]

Interesting... Eppley down when others are up? I hear our housing market is down significantly more than other midwestern markets right now as well. Maybe we AREN'T recession proof... just lag a little.

You could be right, but I'm personally not reading too much into the data yet. First off we only have one month of data for Des Moines and Kansas City. Its hard to draw any conclusions from that. Secondly, Omaha outperformed everyone in the region last year, by a fair margin. That has the potential to skew year over year results. For example, if we look at January traffic for this year compared to 2008, Omaha is down 8.6% but Kansas City is down 16.3%.

[Mr.Nuke]

Kansas City was down 1.51% for February and down 0.06% for the year. Des Moines was up 4.36% for February and 4.03% for the year.

[Bob from Omaha]

March numbers:

Eppley up 3.9% for March and up 0.3% for the year

Lincoln up 8% for March and down 4% for the year

Des Moines 2.81% for March and up 3.57% for the year

Kansas City up 2.98% for March and up 1.13% for the year

I'm not sure how to get Grand Island, but they must be having a great year with Allegiant going to Vegas and Phoenix.




According to USAToday, the change from 2009 in average daily departing seats available during May, as of March 29, 2010.

Omaha 7,611 Down 4.5%
Lincoln 469 down 5.4%
Des Moines 2,836 down 11.6%
Kansas City 18,718 down 2.4%

[Stargazer]

It should be noted that Eppley didn't have quite the 2009 losses to recoup... compared to some of our counterparts... thus leaving us what appears to be a disappointing gain for the year... when instead it's our usual 'steady as she goes' growth.