CrankyOldDude wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2026 7:25 pm
AA gets $2 million a year.
Breeze gets 4 years $3.75 million with $1.5 million the first year.
In the end what does it hurt I guess. Were I a taxpayer I would have been a bit upset that the airports gets a piece of the property tax but at least they have more (7 a day at most, mostly 5) flights. I think I would have also been upset that they added three gates when they had four already & it's hard for me to understand the expansion when not necessary for the foreseeable future.
I think the thing I just can't understand is why there isn't a Runza at the Lincoln airport. Seems like a no brainer.
I think there's a pretty strong argument that a single combined airport for both Omaha and Lincoln out by Ashland could both avoid subsidies and increase route coverage. Instead, we're paying a ton to rebuild OMA, and LNK is actively trying to poach traffic from OMA.
On net, I think it's a bad deal for the state of Nebraska.
riceweb wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 4:03 pm
I think there's a pretty strong argument that a single combined airport for both Omaha and Lincoln out by Ashland could both avoid subsidies and increase route coverage.
Here's the bottom line. OMA draws from western Iowa, eastern Nebraska, southeast South Dakota, northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas. It's not just eastern Nebraska. Omaha does about 5.25 million a year while LNK does maybe 250,000. If it was going to happen it was proposed since the 60s and neither Omaha nor Lincoln powers that be wanted it.
If there was a real push for high speed rail between Lincoln and Omaha AND IF LNK was relegated to general aviation and military aviation and gave up commercial, THEN the combined numbers would POSSIBLY bring more destinations and/or frequencies and/or airlines...but maybe not. Who knows these days if adding MAYBE 250,000 to Omaha's numbers would tip the scales.
In the end a combined airport would cost a ton of cash and force everyone in the Omaha-Lincoln metros to drive to the middle of nowhere to catch a flight. Oh sure, there would be a mega saver nearby for tourists to visit but not much else.
LNK shooting for more. From a newspaper story today:
"The airport is looking to add three new destinations, but financial constraints and reluctance to raise property taxes to offer new airline revenue guarantees could delay expansion until at least 2028.
Potential destinations put forth in a presentation on the airport's long-term goals at Thursday's Airport Authority meeting include Houston, Tampa and the Caribbean.
Those three new stops are not likely until 2028 at the earliest, according to Ken Strickland, an air service consultant.
The Tampa and Caribbean routes could potentially be offered as part of a “BreezeThru” flight with Breeze Airways, where passengers land at a connecting airport but don’t have to get off the plane."
"The airport's long-term goals also include increasing the airport’s “capture rate” — the amount of Lincoln travelers using the airport — to 32% by 2031, up from its current 26%, executive director Anthony Dudas said."
"Airport Authority board member Chris Stokes said the goals did not aim high enough and suggested the airport think about adding as many as five additional destinations.
“I don’t want to take the foot off the accelerator. I think we’re on a roll and to just back off and play conservative is not my personality,” he said. “We need to fight for this stuff. (Key performance indicators) need to be realistic, but they need to be higher than one or two in five years.” "
CrankyOldDude wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 5:49 pm
LNK shooting for more. From a newspaper story today:
"The airport is looking to add three new destinations, but financial constraints and reluctance to raise property taxes to offer new airline revenue guarantees could delay expansion until at least 2028.
Potential destinations put forth in a presentation on the airport's long-term goals at Thursday's Airport Authority meeting include Houston, Tampa and the Caribbean.
Those three new stops are not likely until 2028 at the earliest, according to Ken Strickland, an air service consultant.
Given they're still talking about not having the money to offer more bribes right now, It will be interesting to see if the EXISTING service makes it to 2028. Houston also seems random given that it was just dropped.
CrankyOldDude wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 5:49 pm
"Airport Authority board member Chris Stokes said the goals did not aim high enough and suggested the airport think about adding as many as five additional destinations.
Ah yes because that worked so well the last time you tried it. Obviously Breeze is a more competent partner, but...
Louie wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2026 12:11 am
Curious what ‘Caribbean’ means for LNK
Breeze flies to St. Thomas and Nassau (and the Nassau airport has U.S. customs pre-clearance), presumably they'd be targeting one of those. Both of those are flown currently from Tampa, also hence why they're presumably mentioning targeting Tampa service and the possibility of breeze throughs.
“(Air service development) is a highly competitive industry, and it is a pay-to-play industry,” said Rachel Barth, LNK’s director of air service development. “Most airports our size — even a little bigger, even a little smaller — it is a very common tool to use an incentive program like ours.”
OMA doesn't use bribes. Never did. LNK uses local taxes to bribe. If you never fly out of LNK and you live in Lincoln you're still paying for it.
Smaller airports, yes. Larger, in many cases for international routes. As for Lincoln, you're battling OMA, an hour away with over 80 outbound flights to 25 or more cities, many with much more frequencies and larger planes.
I get that the board and officials from the airport have to put on the absolute best face on what they have and want and I'm sure they'd like to add five more destinations. Breeze is definitely not RedWay. There is the possibility that they may add another city, possibly Tampa. Omaha on the other hand has flights to 10 cities in Florida alone.
The proof will come when the bribes run out. Also, when OMA's new terminal opens, how many people will still fly out of Lincoln since OMA will have Runza and LNK doesn't?
