Omaha Eppley Airfield - DISCUSSION

Post by **BRoss** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:25 pm

Bearcat06 wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:10 pm I like your number. After updating my chart with the Nov figures I'm estimating 4,510,640 passengers for the year.

I'll go with 4,510,641, Bob.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 3:36 am

Don Bacon requesting $5 million in the new spending bill to go towards a "Central Utility Plant Base Building" for the modernization project.

https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/ ... 221216.pdf

TransitOriented · Post by **TransitOriented** » Thu Dec 22, 2022 3:13 pm

The last few flights I had in December, the airport was pretty busy. It was nice they were playing the World Cup as some other airports I was in were not.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 6:16 pm

Dang Southwest Airlines! I had considered flying Southwest to Omaha (as I have lots of points) and then rental car to Sioux falls area but being winter and price of rental cars - took allegiant straight flight. Dang glad I did.

SWA is cancelling 1000s of flights and I saw a report of people waiting up to 5 hours at eppley trying to reschedule flights. I think the report said SWA might not have available aoutbound flights from Omaha until this weekend.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 6:58 pm

Omaha's Eppley Airfield dealing with weather-related flight cancellations, delays

Air travelers dealing with a disastrous week of weather-related flight cancellations and delays will have to extend their patience a few more days — particularly if they're flying with Southwest Airlines. More than 2,750 flights within, into or out of the U.S. have already been canceled for Tuesday as of 1:45 a.m. CST, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Of those canceled flights, 2,480 are operated by Southwest. Southwest warns that such cancellations and delays are expected to continue for several more days, with representatives saying the Dallas-based airline is planning to dial back its flight schedule in order to get operations on track.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 7:32 pm

Southwest really bungled this holiday storm.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Tue Dec 27, 2022 10:14 pm

Probably better adjust our estimates of 2022 totals downward. Also Allegiant cancelled all their DSM flights for a day or two last week.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:51 am

Eppley Airport passengers describe cancelled flight turmoil

Issues at the airport due to cancellations by Southwest Airlines

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 6:53 pm

Southwest passengers dealing with flight cancellations in Omaha

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 12:13 am

Bob from Omaha wrote: Tue Dec 27, 2022 10:14 pm Probably better adjust our estimates of 2022 totals downward. Also Allegiant cancelled all their DSM flights for a day or two last week.

Yeah...SWA carrying 36% of the pax load through OMA is going to hurt numbers a bit. Dang.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 3:31 pm

We are scheduled to return to Omaha on SWA in mid January. That SHOULD give any halfway competent airline more than enough time to get their act together.
We’ve been loyal Southwest fliers for many years, but this latest debacle really gives us pause about continuing to book trips with an airline that basically refuses to fly their planes.

ricko · Post by **ricko** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 7:16 pm

SW had been one of my favorite domestic airlines since the days when they only flew the Texas Triangle in the 70’s. From what I’ve been reading about their antiquated IT systems, I might have to update my list.

RedcoMusic · Post by **RedcoMusic** » Thu Jan 12, 2023 1:30 am

I was just NOT gonna happen today LOL! So there I was at 4am in the morning, on my mark and ready to go for a quick mileage run with American Airlines when all this FAA craziness started to unravel.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:42 pm

Items 3 & 4
____________________________________________________________________________
OMAHA AIRPORT AUTHORITY
MEETING NOTICE AND AGENDA
DATE: January 10, 2023
This is to advise that there will be a meeting of the Omaha Airport Authority on January 17, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. in the Board Room located on the second level of the Terminal Building, Eppley Airfield, Omaha, Nebraska.
The purpose of the meeting is as follows:
1. Roll Call
2. Minutes of the Last Meeting
3. Terminal Modernization Program Authorizations Resolution
4. Award Contract(s) – Terminal Drive – Phase 3

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:51 pm

December numbers released. It gets an asterisk for the Southwest craziness in December but 4,506,. Up 20%

I will start it out by projecting that Eppley won't hit 5 million in 2023 unless there is a major expansion in frequency and or new destinations. I don't know what is going on with Jetblue/Spirit and when their merger might consumate but they could be a nice addition to Omaha. I don't know of any other airlines not currently serving OMA that might have an interest. I think any real growth is going to have to come from a current airline.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:49 pm

Interesting tweet from OMA today. I'm guessing this means fewer CRJ and Embraer regional jets and more 737 and A320s on these routes?

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:50 pm

Glad to see that the demand is rising.

SkyWarrior55 · Post by **SkyWarrior55** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:38 pm

All that’s left for United is to bring back EWR

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:39 pm

SkyWarrior55 wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 9:38 pm All that’s left for United is to bring back EWR

that would be nice

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:36 pm

Not to digress from #MainlineMondays and the improvement of aircraft on those routes, but I'd take a nonstop to Austin. That would be nice as well.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:42 pm

almighty_tuna wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:36 pm Not to digress from #MainlineMondays and the improvement of aircraft on those routes, but I'd take a nonstop to Austin. That would be nice as well.

There was the Frontier flight. Is that no longer?

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:00 pm

According to Eppley's website there are no directs to Austin.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Mon Jan 23, 2023 11:44 pm

Well if we're going to get into destinations not currently served, let's go.

West to East...
Portland
San Diego
Austin
San Antonio
New Orleans
Fort Lauderdale
Boston
Dulles
Philadelphia
BWI
Newark
JFK
Charleston, SC
Toronto
Cancun
Puerto Valarta

flick70 · Post by **flick70** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:50 am

I'd love an OMA-SNA, a weekly OMA-BNA and an OMA-BOS. JetBlue/Spirit could accomplish this. Sun Country could also add a few leisure destinations direct if they have the bandwidth. And where the heck is Breeze and Avelo? We are a prime target.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:42 am

Bearcat06 wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:10 pm
Bob from Omaha wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:37 am Numbers are out for November. Up 8+%. You can look up the details yourself or Nuke can give his take.

My 2022 prediction is somewhere near 4.5 million
I like your number. After updating my chart with the Nov figures I'm estimating 4,510,640 passengers for the year.

So the final 2022 numbers are out and OMA finished at 4,506,713. My prediction was about 4,000 off, but considering the SW debacle, I think that's pretty good.

Overall OMA finished up 20.2% over the 2021 numbers.

My way too early prediction for 2023 is going to be approximately 4,714,472.

The 5 years from 2015 to 2019 had an average increase of 4.19% year over year. The 3 years of 2017 through 2019 averaged 5.03% year over year. I'm going to split those figures at 4.61%. We can't use 2020 numbers and I have a hard time believing a 20.2% increase into 2023 over last years numbers.

I could be a bit low with that prediction as the 2021 increase was 75.1% over 2020 and 2022 was a 20.2% increase over 2021 or about 26% of the total increase, meaning if 2023 stayed at that rate of decline we could estimate an increase of 5.25% or a total pax load of 4,743,315, but I'm going to stick with prior historical averages for now.

https://www.flyoma.com/omaha-airport-au ... cts-stats/

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:15 am

flick70 wrote: Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:50 am I'd love an OMA-SNA, a weekly OMA-BNA and an OMA-BOS. JetBlue/Spirit could accomplish this. Sun Country could also add a few leisure destinations direct if they have the bandwidth. And where the heck is Breeze and Avelo? We are a prime target.

Along with Bob's post above this, I guess the question would be does the airport authority change things up a bit and offer incentives to the airlines? We know that KCI is trying to bid for a direct flight to London and I have to believe it's not a coincidence they are doing that as their brand new terminal is getting ready to open.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:23 pm

The thing with KC trying for international flights beyond Toronto & Cancun, i.e. to Europe, is that with second tier airports they basically have to bribe the airlines with millions. I get that it's a bragging rights thing but at best they MIGHT get a London or Paris flight a couple of times a week but that's it. In my mind it would be better to have more destinations and frequencies in the U.S. along with maybe one or two more to Mexico and or the Caribbean. Just my thought.

As for Eppley offering incentives as far as I know they never did. I remember Don Smithey saying that they don't offer incentives. The airport is open 99% of the time and available to airlines. I'm ok with that but I guess I'd like to see them get more aggressive with the airlines & marketing to the region. As I said before good for DSM with the Allegiant flights but was OMA even considered?

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:25 pm

Bob from Omaha wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:23 pm As for Eppley offering incentives as far as I know they never did. I remember Don Smithey saying that they don't offer incentives.

Is this still the case? He has been out of the role since 2014.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:16 pm

From this week's GrowOmaha report. I'm sure most of you saw OMA was getting $20 million from the federal infrastructure bill...but apparently it's to build a canopy over the arrival/departure traffic lanes.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 3:45 pm

You know, if a separate road system for departures were built above the existing lanes it would work as an even better canopy!

SkyWarrior55 · Post by **SkyWarrior55** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:19 am

https://www.wowt.com/2023/01/30/constru ... utType=amp

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:38 pm

I hope the new terminal resembles the new rental car space. I flew in and out of Omaha over the weekend and took a moment to go in and look at it. I thought it was a beautiful space and kind of reminded me of Terminal 1 at the Barcelona airport.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:47 pm

I agree I checked it out this last summer and that the space was really nice. I used to work at enterprise at the airport about 15 years ago and it looks so much better than a little portable units they had us in in the garage.

ita · Post by **ita** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:01 pm

SkyWarrior55 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:19 am https://www.wowt.com/2023/01/30/constru ... utType=amp

Just some information from the article. In addition to the expansion of lanes for drop off/pick-up:

The changes in the next phase of Eppley’s plan don’t just create more lanes and expand capacity, but it will also offer protection from weather for those going in and out of the airport.

“We’re looking at a full canopy coverage that would cover all the lanes of traffic and keep travelers out of the elements here at Eppley Airfield,” McCoy adds.

After that construction begins, officials with OMA say travelers will soon begin to see changes inside the airport as well, as the terminal modernization project kicks off.

“The terminal modernization program is still under design, but we’d anticipate construction to begin possibly at the end of this year or early next year.”

Construction at the airport’s drop-off will last about 18 months.

Has anyone seen the design of the canopy? Also, with the drop off/pick-up areas being revamped, I know some want the future streetcar to go to the airport. I think with the canopy, it might be hard to get that streetcar tracks down in the future. I am thinking they plan for the expanded but service under the MetroNext plan with clearer signage and wayfinding. Maybe a couple spots for departing on each end of the terminal while keeping the one stop for arrivals? I was also wondering, how frequent does bus service need to be to and from the airport to be effective?

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:10 pm

Construction on Omaha’s Eppley Airfield expansions set to begin in coming months

2023 will be another busy year for Omaha’s Eppley Airfield as changes are on the way both inside and outside of the airport. Several major construction projects that are part of the airport’s master plan are slated to begin as travel continues to increase through the city.

$20.9 million in federal funding from the newly passed infrastructure bill will help get the project done. Nebraska’s Don Bacon and Deb Fischer both voted in support of the bill, which allotted millions of dollars to airports across the nation.

Bob from Omaha · Post by **Bob from Omaha** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:02 pm

I was just in Grand Rapids, Michigan & ended up flying out of the airport there. It's somewhat of a model of what Eppley should do. First, they are planning a federal inspection service facility for international flights. They are also adding 7 gates for a total of 22. It's a very modern, beautiful airport. There is an obvious vision there. Even the parking garage looks like a work of art. Their CSA is about 1.4 million. Anyway, check it out. The terminal project is called Elevate. You can see renderings and plans clicking on the Elevate link.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:08 pm

Next Eppley Airfield expansion to begin soon

NEDodger · Post by **NEDodger** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:48 pm

ita wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:01 pm
SkyWarrior55 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:19 am https://www.wowt.com/2023/01/30/constru ... utType=amp
Just some information from the article. In addition to the expansion of lanes for drop off/pick-up:

The changes in the next phase of Eppley’s plan don’t just create more lanes and expand capacity, but it will also offer protection from weather for those going in and out of the airport.

“We’re looking at a full canopy coverage that would cover all the lanes of traffic and keep travelers out of the elements here at Eppley Airfield,” McCoy adds.

After that construction begins, officials with OMA say travelers will soon begin to see changes inside the airport as well, as the terminal modernization project kicks off.

“The terminal modernization program is still under design, but we’d anticipate construction to begin possibly at the end of this year or early next year.”

Construction at the airport’s drop-off will last about 18 months.
Has anyone seen the design of the canopy? Also, with the drop off/pick-up areas being revamped, I know some want the future streetcar to go to the airport. I think with the canopy, it might be hard to get that streetcar tracks down in the future. I am thinking they plan for the expanded but service under the MetroNext plan with clearer signage and wayfinding. Maybe a couple spots for departing on each end of the terminal while keeping the one stop for arrivals? I was also wondering, how frequent does bus service need to be to and from the airport to be effective?

Buses to the airport, yes. The streetcar has no business going that way if the intent is development. Riverfront Drive to the terminal is essentially 3.5 miles of undevelopable land. That’s not worth another 300 million dollars.

Bearcat06 · Post by **Bearcat06** » Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:45 pm

ita wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:01 pm
SkyWarrior55 wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:19 am https://www.wowt.com/2023/01/30/constru ... utType=amp
Just some information from the article. In addition to the expansion of lanes for drop off/pick-up:

The changes in the next phase of Eppley’s plan don’t just create more lanes and expand capacity, but it will also offer protection from weather for those going in and out of the airport.

“We’re looking at a full canopy coverage that would cover all the lanes of traffic and keep travelers out of the elements here at Eppley Airfield,” McCoy adds.

After that construction begins, officials with OMA say travelers will soon begin to see changes inside the airport as well, as the terminal modernization project kicks off.

“The terminal modernization program is still under design, but we’d anticipate construction to begin possibly at the end of this year or early next year.”

Construction at the airport’s drop-off will last about 18 months.
Has anyone seen the design of the canopy? Also, with the drop off/pick-up areas being revamped, I know some want the future streetcar to go to the airport. I think with the canopy, it might be hard to get that streetcar tracks down in the future. I am thinking they plan for the expanded but service under the MetroNext plan with clearer signage and wayfinding. Maybe a couple spots for departing on each end of the terminal while keeping the one stop for arrivals? I was also wondering, how frequent does bus service need to be to and from the airport to be effective?

I have not been able to find any new renderings online that would show a canopy design or anything different than what we've all seen on the terminal modernization page.

Mr.Nuke · Post by **Mr.Nuke** » Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:59 pm

Bearcat06 wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:49 pm Interesting tweet from OMA today. I'm guessing this means fewer CRJ and Embraer regional jets and more 737 and A320s on these routes?

Yes today ORD is 2 737s and one E170, DEN is 4 737s, IAH is one 737 and one A319, and SFO is one A319 so 90% mainline on United.

Bearcat06 wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:15 am Along with Bob's post above this, I guess the question would be does the airport authority change things up a bit and offer incentives to the airlines?

No thanks.

Louie wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:25 pm
Bob from Omaha wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:23 pm As for Eppley offering incentives as far as I know they never did. I remember Don Smithey saying that they don't offer incentives.
Is this still the case? He has been out of the role since 2014.

As far as we know. Toronto still seemed iffy to me though.