Omaha Eppley Airfield - DISCUSSION

labguy · Post by **labguy** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:41 pm

News from thepointsguy.com that American is permanently cutting Philadelphia to Omaha (also cutting Philly to Des Moines). These routes were suspended last year and were scheduled to come back later this year. I imagine most of the traffic to PHL was to connect with flights to Europe. The demand is probably not there right now.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:55 pm

labguy wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:41 pm News from thepointsguy.com that American is permanently cutting Philadelphia to Omaha (also cutting Philly to Des Moines). These routes were suspended last year and were scheduled to come back later this year. I imagine most of the traffic to PHL was to connect with flights to Europe. The demand is probably not there right now.

Plus cheesesteak tourism has taken a nose-dive.

LetsBeReal22 · Post by **LetsBeReal22** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 2:02 pm

ricko wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:55 pm
labguy wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:41 pm News from thepointsguy.com that American is permanently cutting Philadelphia to Omaha (also cutting Philly to Des Moines). These routes were suspended last year and were scheduled to come back later this year. I imagine most of the traffic to PHL was to connect with flights to Europe. The demand is probably not there right now.
Plus cheesesteak tourism has taken a nose-dive.

The Mark Wiens fans probably have not arrived quite yet.

ByrnesViceVersa · Post by **ByrnesViceVersa** » Mon Aug 30, 2021 2:35 pm

labguy wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:41 pm News from thepointsguy.com that American is permanently cutting Philadelphia to Omaha (also cutting Philly to Des Moines). These routes were suspended last year and were scheduled to come back later this year. I imagine most of the traffic to PHL was to connect with flights to Europe. The demand is probably not there right now.

To be fair Philly isn't the best Hub airport anyway. I used to fly there for awhile but I now just fly out of JFK or Newark. But if Europe ever opens up again that rout will be back on the table.

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Tue Aug 31, 2021 12:10 pm

American has announced that flights to PHL will not be returning to OMA and DSM

Damtheplatte · Post by **Damtheplatte** » Tue Sep 21, 2021 5:34 pm

You guys are slacking this month

Was down at the airport a couple weeks back and that new entryway is coming quickly.

https://www.wowt.com/2021/09/21/eppley ... overnight/

Post by **Brad** » Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:21 am

Thanks for the heads-up and welcome to the forum.

They really did a nice job with the video.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:41 am

August up 122.7% versus August of 2020, and 59.5% YTD

https://www.flyoma.com/wp-content/uploa ... istics.pdf

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:39 pm

Brad wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:21 am Thanks for the heads-up and welcome to the forum.

They really did a nice job with the video.

Thanks for that. I had to laugh watching the sped up workers moving the pieces of plywood so the crane had something to drive on.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:50 pm

Mr.Nuke wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:41 am August up 122.7% versus August of 2020, and 59.5% YTD

https://www.flyoma.com/wp-content/uploa ... istics.pdf

Not seeing much in the way of new destinations/frequencies/enhancement/etc. Seems some other airports are picking up new or enhanced service. I wonder why OMA appears to be missing out. Or am I just missing announcements? Help us out here Nuke.

damonhynes · Post by **damonhynes** » Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:12 am

Bob from Omaha wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:50 pm

Not seeing much in the way of new destinations/frequencies/enhancement/etc. Seems some other airports are picking up new or enhanced service. I wonder why OMA appears to be missing out. Or am I just missing announcements? Help us out here Nuke.

Apropos of something, perhaps but I've noticed that the legacy carriers are putting larger aircraft on their routes. Delta replaced their 717s with A320s to ATL, for example. AA is all A319 to DFW and CLT. Unfortunately, UA is all RJ to IAH.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Mon Sep 27, 2021 9:54 pm

Bob from Omaha wrote: Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:50 pm Not seeing much in the way of new destinations/frequencies/enhancement/etc. Seems some other airports are picking up new or enhanced service. I wonder why OMA appears to be missing out. Or am I just missing announcements?

Traffic is still off 17% or only 83% of it was for the Month of August versus 2019. That isn't an ideal situation for new destinations. The two obvious existing ones still outstanding are both on United: Newark and San Franciscom. Hopefully both return at somepoint soon, although I think I had said it before this past year that I suspect these were to of the heavier business vs. leisure routes. As for frequencies or upgauges I honestly haven't been watching that closely and our access to data lags.... Plus, I'm really not sure how much it would tell us at this point anyways. But just looking at something like comparing August of 2021 to August of 2019 at Kansas City International shows them off by 26%, which leads me to believe Eppley is probably doing relatively fine.

damonhynes wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 9:12 am Apropos of something, perhaps but I've noticed that the legacy carriers are putting larger aircraft on their routes. Delta replaced their 717s with A320s to ATL, for example. AA is all A319 to DFW and CLT. Unfortunately, UA is all RJ to IAH.

And that is another reason why making meaningful comparisons to pre-pandemic service right now is tricky. A lot of regional airlines died in the pandemic. If you have legacy operators operating more of their own flights, with more seats, in an environment where passenger levels are still down from where they were pre-covid, that is going to lead to less frequency. Circling back to Bob, I don't see any reason to doubt frequencies or upgauges will continue to happen on most of the existing routes when the demand is there.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Thu Oct 07, 2021 10:24 pm

Just saw an article in the NY Times that United is planning on running 91% of it's 3500 domestic routes from 2019 in December.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Thu Oct 07, 2021 10:31 pm

Bearcat06 wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 10:24 pm Just saw an article in the NY Times that United is planning on running 91% of it's 3500 domestic routes from 2019 in December.

We're in the 9% on two of ours...

Edit: What I had seen is that they're running 3,500 domestic flights which is a bit different than routes and that would translate to 91% of their capacity from December of 2019. Still good to see capacity coming back to that level.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Sat Oct 09, 2021 11:29 pm

Sun Country flight from Provo to Omaha landed about 10:40pm tonight per flight tracker, then looks like OMA to MSP? Pit stop for fuel or something? Looks like OPD heli has been in the area as well.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:55 am

Bearcat06 wrote: Sat Oct 09, 2021 11:29 pm Sun Country flight from Provo to Omaha landed about 10:40pm tonight per flight tracker, then looks like OMA to MSP? Pit stop for fuel or something?

It was some kind of charter because they flew Omaha to Provo the day before. The flight to MSP was an empty leg to go back to their home base.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:01 pm

I get to fly through a new airport (for me) today, flying into DSM from DFW. Not sure if it was the storms last night in Dallas that messed with things, but apparently all American Airlines flights DFW to OMA aren't running today as scheduled. Odd that OMA would be on the axe list and not DSM, unless they use the same plane or two for all the DFW-OMA routes and it was reassigned to other routes after other cancellations moved things. I was lucky to still find a way out of Texas today though.

bigredmed1 · Post by **bigredmed1** » Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:52 pm

Dallas is one of the most storm sensitive airports in the US. Depending on the vector of the storms, they can get down to just one runway as the others have cross wind issues.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:41 pm

Bearcat06 wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:01 pm I get to fly through a new airport (for me) today, flying into DSM from DFW. Not sure if it was the storms last night in Dallas that messed with things, but apparently all American Airlines flights DFW to OMA aren't running today as scheduled. Odd that OMA would be on the axe list and not DSM, unless they use the same plane or two for all the DFW-OMA routes and it was reassigned to other routes after other cancellations moved things. I was lucky to still find a way out of Texas today though.

I'm confused, because while flight 1818 was cancelled, it looks like the other 3 will operate today. 1514 just landed on schedule (4:40 p.m.) from DFW at Eppley. 1811 operated as scheduled this morning, and 2628 Is still scheduled for a 9:05 departure from DFW. The plane Flightaware has assigned to 1818, if accurate, hasn't flown since Friday, which makes we wonder if there wasn't a mechanical issue.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:27 pm

Mr.Nuke wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:41 pm
Bearcat06 wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:01 pm I get to fly through a new airport (for me) today, flying into DSM from DFW. Not sure if it was the storms last night in Dallas that messed with things, but apparently all American Airlines flights DFW to OMA aren't running today as scheduled. Odd that OMA would be on the axe list and not DSM, unless they use the same plane or two for all the DFW-OMA routes and it was reassigned to other routes after other cancellations moved things. I was lucky to still find a way out of Texas today though.
I'm confused, because while flight 1818 was cancelled, it looks like the other 3 will operate today. 1514 just landed on schedule (4:40 p.m.) from DFW at Eppley. 1811 operated as scheduled this morning, and 2628 Is still scheduled for a 9:05 departure from DFW. The plane Flightaware has assigned to 1818, if accurate, hasn't flown since Friday, which makes we wonder if there wasn't a mechanical issue.

That was our lucky flight! It was odd...had been booked for weeks, flew in Sat to fly out Mon. Received a notification at 4:45 yesterday (Mon) morning that the flight was cancelled and everyone was being rebooked to Wed at the same time, same flight # I think.

Was able to rebook to DSM luckily and still make it home last night. Surely if that plane was down since Friday, being a main hub, AA, would have had a couple other planes in a hanger that could be used, but maybe it's not quite that simple?

DSM is well... something. I think I heard they are updating/upgrading it a bit. It definitely does appear a bit old school, though easy to navigate. I did see they have a central TSA point, which would obviously be difficult at OMA with it's current configuration. I now the remodel is planning to address this.

Pretty sure I heard one of the pilots complaining to someone on the phone about landing on the runway.. I think it was 5/23 we came in on and about landing on the wet pavement and heading up a hill/bump at the same time. I did see as we were heading to the gate that the runway was not level (or what appeared to be a gradual/natural slope) and there was a pretty significant dip and then raise again on the west end.

OMA...saw they are making some progress on the new traffic lanes to the terminal. South economy parking is mostly blocked off for construction, the cell/waiting lot has been torn out and there's quite a bit of new concrete that's been poured on the way to the terminal.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:47 pm

Bearcat06 wrote: Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:27 pm
Mr.Nuke wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:41 pm
Bearcat06 wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:01 pm I get to fly through a new airport (for me) today, flying into DSM from DFW. Not sure if it was the storms last night in Dallas that messed with things, but apparently all American Airlines flights DFW to OMA aren't running today as scheduled. Odd that OMA would be on the axe list and not DSM, unless they use the same plane or two for all the DFW-OMA routes and it was reassigned to other routes after other cancellations moved things. I was lucky to still find a way out of Texas today though.
I'm confused, because while flight 1818 was cancelled, it looks like the other 3 will operate today. 1514 just landed on schedule (4:40 p.m.) from DFW at Eppley. 1811 operated as scheduled this morning, and 2628 Is still scheduled for a 9:05 departure from DFW. The plane Flightaware has assigned to 1818, if accurate, hasn't flown since Friday, which makes we wonder if there wasn't a mechanical issue.
That was our lucky flight! It was odd...had been booked for weeks, flew in Sat to fly out Mon. Received a notification at 4:45 yesterday (Mon) morning that the flight was cancelled and everyone was being rebooked to Wed at the same time, same flight # I think.

Was able to rebook to DSM luckily and still make it home last night. Surely if that plane was down since Friday, being a main hub, AA, would have had a couple other planes in a hanger that could be used, but maybe it's not quite that simple?

DSM is well... something. I think I heard they are updating/upgrading it a bit. It definitely does appear a bit old school, though easy to navigate. I did see they have a central TSA point, which would obviously be difficult at OMA with it's current configuration. I now the remodel is planning to address this.

Pretty sure I heard one of the pilots complaining to someone on the phone about landing on the runway.. I think it was 5/23 we came in on and about landing on the wet pavement and heading up a hill/bump at the same time. I did see as we were heading to the gate that the runway was not level (or what appeared to be a gradual/natural slope) and there was a pretty significant dip and then raise again on the west end.

OMA...saw they are making some progress on the new traffic lanes to the terminal. South economy parking is mostly blocked off for construction, the cell/waiting lot has been torn out and there's quite a bit of new concrete that's been poured on the way to the terminal.

I should clarify. When I checked in for our Mon, 10:20am flight around 4pm on Sunday afternoon, it said everything was normal and on time. Obviously things can change over weeks, days, or even hours in this case, but it if that specific plane has been out of service for two days at that point I would have thought there would have been a better contingency plane than, we'll book you out two more days. Though I also forgot it was a holiday weekend and travel was probably up a bit from normal. At least I wasn't flying Southwest, I guess!

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:12 pm

it's been a while since I have flown but we have a trip coming up soon. It's an early morning flight, do you think getting in an hour ahead of departure time is enough at Eppley right now?

NEDodger · Post by **NEDodger** » Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:20 pm

It's been kind of up and down recently. I'd probably go 75 minutes just to be safe.

arjavrawal · Post by **arjavrawal** » Sat Oct 16, 2021 2:29 pm

Hi all --

flying out of Eppley on Southwest back home to California to surprise my folks next weekend. I am prepping for a cancellation, but just wondering if anyone else knows much about how things have been with Southwest flights there.

ByrnesViceVersa · Post by **ByrnesViceVersa** » Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:45 am

arjavrawal wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 2:29 pm Hi all --

flying out of Eppley on Southwest back home to California to surprise my folks next weekend. I am prepping for a cancellation, but just wondering if anyone else knows much about how things have been with Southwest flights there.

Southwest outta Omaha has been ok but I'd be careful with any airline right now. Getting back to Omaha from any major hub airport has been tricky recently. I fly alot so that's been a problem for me getting stuck in other airports. I fly with American and Jet Blue so I don't know what Southwest is like outside of Omaha.

arjavrawal · Post by **arjavrawal** » Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:17 am

ByrnesViceVersa wrote: Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:45 am
arjavrawal wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 2:29 pm Hi all --

flying out of Eppley on Southwest back home to California to surprise my folks next weekend. I am prepping for a cancellation, but just wondering if anyone else knows much about how things have been with Southwest flights there.
Southwest outta Omaha has been ok but I'd be careful with any airline right now. Getting back to Omaha from any major hub airport has been tricky recently. I fly alot so that's been a problem for me getting stuck in other airports. I fly with American and Jet Blue so I don't know what Southwest is like outside of Omaha.

Excellent, thanks. I would totally use JetBlue if they had flights out of here -- free WiFi can't be passed up, even if it's shitty. I'm flying into Oakland instead of SFO, so not that major of a hub -- fingers crossed.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:16 pm

I've flown southwest a few times in the past week, to a few cities and not had a problem. Keep an eye on it & make sure to allow for test updates.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 1:35 pm

September up 107.9%, and up 64.2% year-to-date

https://www.flyoma.com/wp-content/uploa ... istics.pdf

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 3:32 pm

Glad to see these numbers continuing to increase in the % increase from last year.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:04 pm

The weakest was frontier. They are flakey and never really added much numbers wise. The legacy carriers & southwest are the ones to watch. In my opinion. Nuke could add to this.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:46 pm

Bob from Omaha wrote: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:04 pm The weakest was frontier. They are flakey and never really added much numbers wise. The legacy carriers & southwest are the ones to watch. In my opinion. Nuke could add to this.

Yeah it is hard to impact the numbers when you're only flying to Denver two or 3 times a week and Las Vegas 4 teams a week. Both of those are obviously destinations Southwest and in the case of Denver United serve with greater frequency as well. One flight a day that doesn't operate daily makes connections tricky as well. I miss the days when they were at least willing to throw darts at the board and try routes out of here.

jjjjhskr · Post by **jjjjhskr** » Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:58 am

American added their flight to LGA this week. Its’s always nice to see an airline add a new city to their OMA schedule. Also Delta has added a second flight to LGA.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:27 am

New temporary entrance to Omaha's Eppley Airfield will be in place until summer '22

The entrance, located a quarter-mile south on Abbott Drive from the previous entrance, will be open Tuesday. The regular terminal entrance will be closed.

Drivers will need to turn on Pratt Court and then head north to access the terminal, South Garage and south economy parking, the Omaha Airport Authority said.

https://omaha.com/news/local/new-tempor ... op-story-1

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:35 am

Uffda wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:27 am New temporary entrance to Omaha's Eppley Airfield will be in place until summer '22

The entrance, located a quarter-mile south on Abbott Drive from the previous entrance, will be open Tuesday. The regular terminal entrance will be closed.

Drivers will need to turn on Pratt Court and then head north to access the terminal, South Garage and south economy parking, the Omaha Airport Authority said.

https://omaha.com/news/local/new-tempor ... op-story-1

Are they doing specific work that forces this road change?

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:34 pm

Louie wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:35 am
Uffda wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:27 am New temporary entrance to Omaha's Eppley Airfield will be in place until summer '22

The entrance, located a quarter-mile south on Abbott Drive from the previous entrance, will be open Tuesday. The regular terminal entrance will be closed.

Drivers will need to turn on Pratt Court and then head north to access the terminal, South Garage and south economy parking, the Omaha Airport Authority said.

https://omaha.com/news/local/new-tempor ... op-story-1
Are they doing specific work that forces this road change?

I believe it's for the new terminal/parking garage entrance that is to be built as part of the terminal upgrade plan. When I was down there about month ago, things were all sorts of wonky with the south economy cell lot being ripped up, about 3/4 of the south economy lot blocked off and traffic cones as far as the eye could see down the terminal road.

I think this entrance work was within the first phase or two of the terminal remodel so fingers-crossed the pax loads continue to improve and they decide to pull the trigger and start the main terminal project.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Fri Nov 05, 2021 4:22 pm

Bearcat06 wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:34 pm
Louie wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:35 am
Uffda wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:27 am New temporary entrance to Omaha's Eppley Airfield will be in place until summer '22

The entrance, located a quarter-mile south on Abbott Drive from the previous entrance, will be open Tuesday. The regular terminal entrance will be closed.

Drivers will need to turn on Pratt Court and then head north to access the terminal, South Garage and south economy parking, the Omaha Airport Authority said.

https://omaha.com/news/local/new-tempor ... op-story-1
Are they doing specific work that forces this road change?
I believe it's for the new terminal/parking garage entrance that is to be built as part of the terminal upgrade plan. When I was down there about month ago, things were all sorts of wonky with the south economy cell lot being ripped up, about 3/4 of the south economy lot blocked off and traffic cones as far as the eye could see down the terminal road.

I think this entrance work was within the first phase or two of the terminal remodel so fingers-crossed the pax loads continue to improve and they decide to pull the trigger and start the main terminal project.

Fingers crossed

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue Nov 09, 2021 4:54 pm

jjjjhskr wrote: Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:58 am American added their flight to LGA this week. Its’s always nice to see an airline add a new city to their OMA schedule. Also Delta has added a second flight to LGA.

We flew the OMA - LGA flight in October and it was full. Returning to OMA Delta changed our itinerary and we had to fly through Detroit. I used to like the Detroit airport but almost nothing in terms of restaurants were open mid afternoon. We had a 90 minute layover with zero food options in our terminal. Just bizarre.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Nov 09, 2021 5:20 pm

Just curious. What was open? Where did you eat?

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:16 pm

As I was driving by the other day, I saw what appeared to be a 'West Dodge Expressway like' pier being erected to the south of the south parking garage. What's up with that? I assume we're not progressing towards separate drop-off/pick-up levels already.

JDJase · Post by **JDJase** » Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:40 am

Stargazer wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:16 pm As I was driving by the other day, I saw what appeared to be a 'West Dodge Expressway like' pier being erected to the south of the south parking garage. What's up with that? I assume we're not progressing towards separate drop-off/pick-up levels already.

I noticed that when I drove by the other day as well (if I'm thinking of the same thing as you're talking about). Here's what I found that I think it is:

The airfield will also build a new express ramp in the garage. Premier parking will be moved to Level 3, and the express ramp will take parkers straight from ground level to premier parking. McCoy said that will be the most convenient parking option.