Omaha Eppley Airfield - DISCUSSION

[Mr.Nuke]

February was up 86.4% and 83.6% year-to-date.

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

[Bob from Omaha]

February was up 86.4% and 83.6% year-to-date.

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

Thoughts? Additions? News?

[Mr.Nuke]

February was up 86.4% and 83.6% year-to-date.

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

Thoughts? Additions? News?

Numbers look good to me. Nice to see the big increases in mainline flying from Delta and United. The only thing on my radar right now is if SFO actually finally resumes on June 27th or not.

[Bob from Omaha]

February was up 86.4% and 83.6% year-to-date.

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

Thoughts? Additions? News?

Numbers look good to me. Nice to see the big increases in mainline flying from Delta and United. The only thing on my radar right now is if SFO actually finally resumes on June 27th or not.

I noticed that too. I saw today that LUV is cutting flights along with some others. NBCDFW LUV Flight Cuts

I'm curious about your thoughts on SDO, PDX, others returning sometime to OMA. How about BOS, PHL, BWI, etc.?

On another note, I was waiting in the cel phone lot at DTW this morning & in the space of about 3 minutes I saw more planes take off than LNK sees in at least a week. Two runways, seemed like a plane every 20 seconds. Pretty cool.

[Bearcat06]

February was up 86.4% and 83.6% year-to-date.

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

Thoughts? Additions? News?

Numbers look good to me. Nice to see the big increases in mainline flying from Delta and United. The only thing on my radar right now is if SFO actually finally resumes on June 27th or not.

I noticed that too. I saw today that LUV is cutting flights along with some others. NBCDFW LUV Flight Cuts

I'm curious about your thoughts on SDO, PDX, others returning sometime to OMA. How about BOS, PHL, BWI, etc.?

On another note, I was waiting in the cel phone lot at DTW this morning & in the space of about 3 minutes I saw more planes take off than LNK sees in at least a week. Two runways, seemed like a plane every 20 seconds. Pretty cool.

Denver and Atlanta seem that way at times as well. I've been into Denver more than once landing and there is line of flights landing/departing. A couple times I've looked out the window to see another flight parallel with ours while landing, almost close enough to see passengers in the other plane.

On the flip side because nobody wants to build along the flight paths where they have this kind of traffic, there are a couple shooting ranges with sporting clays and silhouette target shooting North and South of DIA and it can be a bit distracting having constant air traffic coming through when you're trying to focus and they are only a few thousand feet above you.

[Bearcat06]

February was up 86.4% and 83.6% year-to-date.

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

For comparison Feb 22 is still down about 15% compared to Feb of 2019 and down about 19.8% versus the 2020 number.

Feb 2019 - 351,035
Feb 2020 - 371,757
Feb 2021 - 159,987
Feb 2022 - 298,157

[nativeomahan]

Eppley certainly seems to be returning to the Glory Days of the previous decade. I’ve personally flown through Eppley 4 times since Christmas, with another 2 trips next month.
As a side note, Eppley is one of the very BEST when it comes to having conveniently located and functioning charging stations of all the airports I frequent (PHX, LAS, DFW, IAH, HOU, DEN, ORD, MDW, PVR).
Of course, food options remain the very worst.

[Bearcat06]

Eppley certainly seems to be returning to the Glory Days of the previous decade. I’ve personally flown through Eppley 4 times since Christmas, with another 2 trips next month.
As a side note, Eppley is one of the very BEST when it comes to having conveniently located and functioning charging stations of all the airports I frequent (PHX, LAS, DFW, IAH, HOU, DEN, ORD, MDW, PVR).
Of course, food options remain the very worst.

I'll be interested to see how the rest of this year plays out. In 2018 and 2019; March, June-Aug and Oct were the busiest months. Obviously 2020 and 2021 were affected by Covid, but the busiest months trended toward the latter half of the year (aside from Jan-Mar 2020 before the world shut down; those were actually looking pretty good).

Eppley does have good availability for charging. Hopefully, they keep this in mind whenever they get around to the remodel. I'm also hopeful the redesign will allow for better post TSA food options. Fingers crossed! I wonder if they would consider working with/bringing in any of the local food truck joints/options or if the owners of the trucks would be interested in branching out? They are already experienced in getting good quality food out to customers quickly. And it would be a good way to get a local restaurant vibe into the airport for travelers to try.

[Garrett]

Eppley certainly seems to be returning to the Glory Days of the previous decade. I’ve personally flown through Eppley 4 times since Christmas, with another 2 trips next month.
As a side note, Eppley is one of the very BEST when it comes to having conveniently located and functioning charging stations of all the airports I frequent (PHX, LAS, DFW, IAH, HOU, DEN, ORD, MDW, PVR).
Of course, food options remain the very worst.

I'll be interested to see how the rest of this year plays out. In 2018 and 2019; March, June-Aug and Oct were the busiest months. Obviously 2020 and 2021 were affected by Covid, but the busiest months trended toward the latter half of the year (aside from Jan-Mar 2020 before the world shut down; those were actually looking pretty good).

Eppley does have good availability for charging. Hopefully, they keep this in mind whenever they get around to the remodel. I'm also hopeful the redesign will allow for better post TSA food options. Fingers crossed! I wonder if they would consider working with/bringing in any of the local food truck joints/options or if the owners of the trucks would be interested in branching out? They are already experienced in getting good quality food out to customers quickly. And it would be a good way to get a local restaurant vibe into the airport for travelers to try.

On the food note, a lot of airports seem to be moving away from fast food to a more high end target for their restaurants. I could see Flagship or some other local restaurant group basically opening a foodhall.

[Bearcat06]

Eppley certainly seems to be returning to the Glory Days of the previous decade. I’ve personally flown through Eppley 4 times since Christmas, with another 2 trips next month.
As a side note, Eppley is one of the very BEST when it comes to having conveniently located and functioning charging stations of all the airports I frequent (PHX, LAS, DFW, IAH, HOU, DEN, ORD, MDW, PVR).
Of course, food options remain the very worst.

I'll be interested to see how the rest of this year plays out. In 2018 and 2019; March, June-Aug and Oct were the busiest months. Obviously 2020 and 2021 were affected by Covid, but the busiest months trended toward the latter half of the year (aside from Jan-Mar 2020 before the world shut down; those were actually looking pretty good).

Eppley does have good availability for charging. Hopefully, they keep this in mind whenever they get around to the remodel. I'm also hopeful the redesign will allow for better post TSA food options. Fingers crossed! I wonder if they would consider working with/bringing in any of the local food truck joints/options or if the owners of the trucks would be interested in branching out? They are already experienced in getting good quality food out to customers quickly. And it would be a good way to get a local restaurant vibe into the airport for travelers to try.

On the food note, a lot of airports seem to be moving away from fast food to a more high end target for their restaurants. I could see Flagship or some other local restaurant group basically opening a foodhall.

Something like Flagship Commons or Inner Rail would certainly be interesting. I'd be okay with that versus fast food. Omaha has some amazingly talented chefs.

[Mr.Nuke]

I'm curious about your thoughts on SDO, PDX, others returning sometime to OMA. How about BOS, PHL, BWI, etc.?

I have passengers daily each way data through Q3 2021 now. I was planning on waiting to get the full year from last year and then doing a bit of a deeper dive to see if anything looked interesting. Boston is still on the cusp passenger wise, we obviously don't have great yield data to tell us if it makes sense financially. I'll be curious to see how JetBlue does in Kansas City... PDX would've been back at this point if it was coming back this year. We'll see about next year. We'll see about San Diego this fall/winter. PHL is a no unless AA decides they want to route more people through there again instead of CLT. BWI is a definite no. Like Bearcat said numbers are still well off of 2019 so routes that were marginal in 2019 aren't right now.

I'm also hopeful the redesign will allow for better post TSA food options. Fingers crossed!

It undoubtedly will. From the day the terminal opens you've effectively doubled the number of potential customers you are reaching due to not having half walk one way and half the other like they do right now.

I wonder if they would consider working with/bringing in any of the local food truck joints/options or if the owners of the trucks would be interested in branching out?

I would doubt it. Airport concessions are usually tightly controlled i.e. one company has most if not all of the food court spots in both terminals at Eppley. This model isn't all that uncommon i.e. 95% of the restaruants in EWR's terminal C are the same company branded as different restaurants. We just have a |expletive| company that hopefully doesn't retain the contracts in the new terminal.

On the food note, a lot of airports seem to be moving away from fast food to a more high end target for their restaurants. I could see Flagship or some other local restaurant group basically opening a foodhall.

It also kind of depends on the airport. Because a higher end target doesn't always work. A lot of the reviews for some of the aforementioned EWR C restaurants are we didn't get our food before our connection and are trying to get a refund... I think there is certainly room to go "higher-end" at Eppley than Godfather's or Blimpie's, but especially at an airport like Eppley where people are used to pulling up an hour before their flight and making it without a problem, whatever you're serving needs to come out quick. Something that is self-limiting on the "high-end" side.

[Bob from Omaha]

I'm curious about your thoughts on SDO, PDX, others returning sometime to OMA. How about BOS, PHL, BWI, etc.?

I have passengers daily each way data through Q3 2021 now. I was planning o......

All reasonable responses. Thanks for your insight.

On a related note, there were a couple of items on the OAA agenda a couple of months back regarding the expansion/renovation/whateveryouwanttocallit project. Do you have any info on where Eppley stands regarding the timeline? What specifically were the items? I know it's demand driven but how about additional federal funds? Have the designs changed, and I know the earlier designs were theoretical.

Thanks Nuke, as always, for the updates and insights.

(I know you haven't said here what you do for a living. Perhaps when I'm in Omaha this summer I can buy you a tasty beverage or two and you might then give me a hint)

[Garrett]

It also kind of depends on the airport. Because a higher end target doesn't always work. A lot of the reviews for some of the aforementioned EWR C restaurants are we didn't get our food before our connection and are trying to get a refund... I think there is certainly room to go "higher-end" at Eppley than Godfather's or Blimpie's, but especially at an airport like Eppley where people are used to pulling up an hour before their flight and making it without a problem, whatever you're serving needs to come out quick. Something that is self-limiting on the "high-end" side.

I get that. I think Flagship has done very well with their foodhall at Westroads cranking out faster versions of their other restaurants along with new concepts. I will say though, I’m not a huge fan of how fancy some airports are trying to make their food options. I don’t want a $20 burger that isn’t really that good, I’d much rather have a $5 burger from McDonald’s haha.

[strangerthings]

I'm curious about your thoughts on SDO, PDX, others returning sometime to OMA. How about BOS, PHL, BWI, etc.?

I have passengers daily each way data through Q3 2021 now. I was planning on waiting to get the full year from last year and then doing a bit of a deeper dive to see if anything looked interesting. Boston is still on the cusp passenger wise, we obviously don't have great yield data to tell us if it makes sense financially. I'll be curious to see how JetBlue does in Kansas City... PDX would've been back at this point if it was coming back this year. We'll see about next year. We'll see about San Diego this fall/winter. PHL is a no unless AA decides they want to route more people through there again instead of CLT. BWI is a definite no. Like Bearcat said numbers are still well off of 2019 so routes that were marginal in 2019 aren't right now.

I'm also hopeful the redesign will allow for better post TSA food options. Fingers crossed!

It undoubtedly will. From the day the terminal opens you've effectively doubled the number of potential customers you are reaching due to not having half walk one way and half the other like they do right now.

I wonder if they would consider working with/bringing in any of the local food truck joints/options or if the owners of the trucks would be interested in branching out?

I would doubt it. Airport concessions are usually tightly controlled i.e. one company has most if not all of the food court spots in both terminals at Eppley. This model isn't all that uncommon i.e. 95% of the restaruants in EWR's terminal C are the same company branded as different restaurants. We just have a |expletive| company that hopefully doesn't retain the contracts in the new terminal.

On the food note, a lot of airports seem to be moving away from fast food to a more high end target for their restaurants. I could see Flagship or some other local restaurant group basically opening a foodhall.

It also kind of depends on the airport. Because a higher end target doesn't always work. A lot of the reviews for some of the aforementioned EWR C restaurants are we didn't get our food before our connection and are trying to get a refund... I think there is certainly room to go "higher-end" at Eppley than Godfather's or Blimpie's, but especially at an airport like Eppley where people are used to pulling up an hour before their flight and making it without a problem, whatever you're serving needs to come out quick. Something that is self-limiting on the "high-end" side.

Link to the Omaha-Boston PPDEW numbers?

[Mr.Nuke]

On a related note, there were a couple of items on the OAA agenda a couple of months back regarding the expansion/renovation/whateveryouwanttocallit project. Do you have any info on where Eppley stands regarding the timeline? What specifically were the items? I know it's demand driven but how about additional federal funds? Have the designs changed, and I know the earlier designs were theoretical.

Nope nothing other than what we saw on the January agenda. I still still consider that a positive sign that they were talking about project related things again though.

I get that. I think Flagship has done very well with their foodhall at Westroads cranking out faster versions of their other restaurants along with new concepts. I will say though, I’m not a huge fan of how fancy some airports are trying to make their food options. I don’t want a $20 burger that isn’t really that good, I’d much rather have a $5 burger from McDonald’s haha.

Yeah I'm all for options. There is also something to be said about familiarity when traveling. At an airport McDonald's you know exactly what you're going to get. I'd be curious to know how many people pass through Westroads daily versus Eppley re: Flagship.

Link to the Omaha-Boston PPDEW numbers?

It isn't all that easy to link to. It is a DOT data set (Table 6) that requires filtering to get what you want, and then division to figure out passengers each way instead of total passengers. Below is the quarterly PDEW for Boston since 2019.

2019 Q1- 59, Q2- 99, Q3- 104, Q4-87
2020 Q1- 46, Q-2 9, Q-3 31, Q4- 23
2021 Q1- 16, Q2- 56, Q3- 80

[skinzfan23]

Construction to continue at Eppley Airfield for years to come

Next year, the Omaha Airport Authority will launch a $600 million effort to modernize Eppley Airfield’s main terminal, which has not seen major changes to its configuration since it was built in the mid-1980s.

Construction could run through 2027.

Plans call for the expansion of the 368,000-square-foot terminal building to between 650,000 and 700,000 square feet. Changes include moving ticket counters to the second floor and increasing the number of gates from 20 to 22. The concourse would be unified, with a single security entrance, unlike the split concourses the airport now has.

Last year, as part of $1 trillion federal infrastructure legislation, the Airport Authority received a grant that will provide Eppley with about $7.2 million each year for five years. Administrators recently applied for a second federal grant that would help pay for terminal construction.

If demand meets the Airport Authority’s expectations, additional work could see the terminal expanded to accommodate 28 gates.

[Louie]

Construction to continue at Eppley Airfield for years to come

Next year, the Omaha Airport Authority will launch a $600 million effort to modernize Eppley Airfield’s main terminal, which has not seen major changes to its configuration since it was built in the mid-1980s.

Construction could run through 2027.

Plans call for the expansion of the 368,000-square-foot terminal building to between 650,000 and 700,000 square feet. Changes include moving ticket counters to the second floor and increasing the number of gates from 20 to 22. The concourse would be unified, with a single security entrance, unlike the split concourses the airport now has.

Last year, as part of $1 trillion federal infrastructure legislation, the Airport Authority received a grant that will provide Eppley with about $7.2 million each year for five years. Administrators recently applied for a second federal grant that would help pay for terminal construction.

If demand meets the Airport Authority’s expectations, additional work could see the terminal expanded to accommodate 28 gates.

So the image shows the gate expansion from 20 to 22, I wonder where the build-out of 6 additional gates would take place?

[Garrett]

Construction to continue at Eppley Airfield for years to come

Next year, the Omaha Airport Authority will launch a $600 million effort to modernize Eppley Airfield’s main terminal, which has not seen major changes to its configuration since it was built in the mid-1980s.

Construction could run through 2027.

Plans call for the expansion of the 368,000-square-foot terminal building to between 650,000 and 700,000 square feet. Changes include moving ticket counters to the second floor and increasing the number of gates from 20 to 22. The concourse would be unified, with a single security entrance, unlike the split concourses the airport now has.

Last year, as part of $1 trillion federal infrastructure legislation, the Airport Authority received a grant that will provide Eppley with about $7.2 million each year for five years. Administrators recently applied for a second federal grant that would help pay for terminal construction.

If demand meets the Airport Authority’s expectations, additional work could see the terminal expanded to accommodate 28 gates.

So the image shows the gate expansion from 20 to 22, I wonder where the build-out of 6 additional gates would take place?

I believe the extra space is on the north side of the terminal, left on this image.

[iamjacobm]

Getting ever behind one security checkpoint will be great. Should support the better amenities with everyone in the same terminal.

Still wish they could build a drive to get departures to the second story and arrivals on the ground.

[almighty_tuna]

Still wish they could build a drive to get departures to the second story and arrivals on the ground.

This would definitely be ideal

[Louie]

Construction to continue at Eppley Airfield for years to come

Next year, the Omaha Airport Authority will launch a $600 million effort to modernize Eppley Airfield’s main terminal, which has not seen major changes to its configuration since it was built in the mid-1980s.

Construction could run through 2027.

Plans call for the expansion of the 368,000-square-foot terminal building to between 650,000 and 700,000 square feet. Changes include moving ticket counters to the second floor and increasing the number of gates from 20 to 22. The concourse would be unified, with a single security entrance, unlike the split concourses the airport now has.

Last year, as part of $1 trillion federal infrastructure legislation, the Airport Authority received a grant that will provide Eppley with about $7.2 million each year for five years. Administrators recently applied for a second federal grant that would help pay for terminal construction.

If demand meets the Airport Authority’s expectations, additional work could see the terminal expanded to accommodate 28 gates.

So the image shows the gate expansion from 20 to 22, I wonder where the build-out of 6 additional gates would take place?

I believe the extra space is on the north side of the terminal, left on this image.

That's what I figured, but I'm no airport architect.

[Bob from Omaha]

I still like this design. I know nothing is written in stone yet and everything could change. It's from the 2018 Terminal Development Day. Still...

[JDJase]

I just flew in and out of LaGuardia last week, and their first newly-rebuilt terminal (B) just opened in January, and I was very impressed. I appreciated the wide variety of food options. After getting past security you climb up 2 flights of escalators that leads you into the shops and then a giant food court (literally just like a mall, with a giant fountain in the middle surrounded by tables, restaurants on outside) that had a nice variety of fast food and nicer restaurants.

After that you have a lengthy walk with a few sit-down restaurants along the way, and then after climbing back down 2 flights of escalators to the gate areas the options were a couple of Eppley-like bars, a convenience store and a Shake Shack. Def seemed like there was a little something for everyone (though since all flights were delayed that day the food areas were extremely crowded and made for a very unpleasant 6 hours). While obviously there were way more amenities in LaGuardia than Eppley will need, I hope they follow along with having options.

I still think not starting this Eppley project during the pandemic was a huge missed opportunity.

[jjjjhskr]

I can’t wait to see what the final design is, hopefully something impressive. It seems a bit short sighted to only add 2 gates to start with. Also, it wouldn’t surprise me if the final design has a drop off ramp to the 2nd floor for departures.

[Louie]

I still like this design. I know nothing is written in stone yet and everything could change. It's from the 2018 Terminal Development Day. Still...

There is definitely space to the north to addon something similar to this design.

[Bob from Omaha]

From a cursory look at Google Earth it appears that there is plenty of room both to the north and south. I think realistically that growing larger than 28 gates is quite a ways off but still there seems to be plenty of room.

Of course this is all moot once the decision is made to build an international airport between Omaha & Lincoln. Paris non stop, anyone? Rome? Shanghai? Tokyo? Sioux City?

[Doctor Fate]

I just flew in and out of LaGuardia last week, and their first newly-rebuilt terminal (B) just opened in January, and I was very impressed.

The last time I was in LaGuardia was in 2020, there was a a stream of water coming out of the ceiling and leaving a massive puddle outside of some bathrooms. The custodian was just standing in one spot and pushing it around with a wet mop lol.

[Bob from Omaha]

I was chatting with a pilot while waiting to board a flight from LaGuardia and I asked him how he liked the airport. His reply was that at night he'd rather land on an aircraft carrier.

My own opinion is that sometimes it's the most convenient airport to my destination in the New York area. On the other hand as with many other large airports it can be a zoo and while renovations are nice you can nail antlers on a mouse and it's still a mouse. Put another way, it's still crowded and terribly inefficient.

[Garrett]

New LGA is very very nice, but yeah landing there is still an intense exercise. But they have fixed a lot of the inefficiencies that plagued the old airport.

[damonhynes]

Of course this is all moot once the decision is made to build an international airport between Omaha & Lincoln. Paris non stop, anyone? Rome? Shanghai? Tokyo? Sioux City?

LOL. I remember being able to fly OMA-MCI on Braniff. Boeing 727-200. Good times.

[Coyote]

$600 million terminal renovation project resumes at Eppley Airfield



$600 million terminal renovation project resumes at Eppley Airfield

[nativeomahan]

$600 million just to add 2 friggin’ gates? What am I missing here?

[Louie]

$600 million just to add 2 friggin’ gates? What am I missing here?

I think the bigger move is the redesign of the terminals to match what is more commonly seen, such as one consolidated security gate. I think it also sets them up for growth in passenger numbers and gates in the future much much better.

[riceweb]

I think we've discussed it here before, but even 2 more gates can mean substantially more flights and destinations. We're nowhere near utilizing the total capacity of our existing gates, plus 2 more gates could mean additional service for low-cost carriers.

[JDJase]

I was chatting with a pilot while waiting to board a flight from LaGuardia and I asked him how he liked the airport. His reply was that at night he'd rather land on an aircraft carrier.

My own opinion is that sometimes it's the most convenient airport to my destination in the New York area. On the other hand as with many other large airports it can be a zoo and while renovations are nice you can nail antlers on a mouse and it's still a mouse. Put another way, it's still crowded and terribly inefficient.

For those interested in airports, here's a good YouTube video on the LaGuardia redevelopment that explains the improvements as well as the problems that won't be fixed by the improvements. Also of note that this is what $8 billion gets you, compared to our $600 million.

[Garrett]

$600 million just to add 2 friggin’ gates? What am I missing here?

It's essentially a full rebuild of the airport.

[buildomaha]

Even looking at that simple organizational roof plan shows the ingenuity of the design. They’ll be able to add additional gates in the middle of the current terminals before they presumably close terminal B for the extension in that direction. It’s looking like they’ll utilize existing structure of terminal A, but it will also likely have to be closed, or partially closed during the rebuild before construction is completed.

[skinzfan23]

I say that we go with the $8 Billion upgrade

[Bob from Omaha]

I say that we go with the $8 Billion upgrade

For that money instead of putting it between Omaha & Lincoln you could just move Lincoln to downtown Omaha.

[Stargazer]

I didn't see it mentioned, but with ticket counters moving to the second level and that ramp I see they've been working on, is the thinking that we'll eventually see second level arrivals and first level departures?