buildomaha wrote: It would take some work with customs and such
That is putting it mildly, because...
joleo wrote:
Omaha would for sure have nonstops to Cancun on potentially multiple airlines on a seasonal basis if Eppley had customs facilities to handle it. In fact, Northwest Airlines announced OMA-CUN nonstop publicly about 10-15 years ago and then rescinded the announcement a few days later. Somebody didn't do their research when it was announced. Ha. Does anybody remember this?
The year was 2005. I'm not sure that is how it went down though. My hunch is that Eppley and Northwest were in on it together and basically using that announcement to signal to Customs and Border Patrol that Eppley had someone serious about international flights from the airport. It obviously backfired because as you note two weeks later Northwest rescinded citing:
Since that application was filed, Northwest has learned that Customs and Border Protection will not be able to commit the additional resources necessary to handle the passenger flows that Northwest’s new service would bring to Omaha. Accordingly, Northwest hereby withdraws its request for an exemption and designation to provide scheduled foreign air transportation between Omaha and Cancun.
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D= ... 21781-0004
This thread from this very site here a year later provides more insight based on a W-H article.
http://www.eomahaforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4156
The summary was that not only was Northwest ready for the Cancun flight, but Frontier was prepared to fly to multiple Mexican destinations as well. Eppley was prepared to build an FIS facility fully funding the construction on their own. There were two big obstacles to overcome though. 1) Eppley was waiting for guidance from Customs and Border Patrol on what they actually needed to build. Guidelines hadn't been updated since Pre 9/11 and Pre Customs and Border Patrol being an agency under Homeland Security.
W-H 2006
Eppley officials would like to add a processing center, at the airport's expense, but they are waiting for a rewrite of government regulations for such operations, Smithey said. Without the regulations, the authority doesn't know what to build or what it would cost.
"We're certainly interested in creating the FIS, and we could do that pretty easily, but they have to tell us what they want."
2) Customs basically said even if you build it we aren't going to staff it and we won't be giving you permission to land international commercial flights.
From the W-H article
In a letter last year to Smithey, Anne Lombardi, a director of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, wrote: "Our current position is that, even if you do choose to build an FIS (federal inspection station) and a commercial airline does request landing rights for international clearance, we will not approve landing rights at Eppley Field."
The decision, her letter continued, was based on budget constraints, staff availability, existing regulations and the best interests of the government.
So the question becomes has anything changed regarding that position? The premise of that article was that Ben Nelson was trying to set up something that would reimburse CBP for temporarily staffing Eppley. I'd say it didn't go through. We are obviously 12 years later and 2 different Presidential administrations, but...
joleo wrote:
I really hope the custom facility large enough for commercial flights is included in the 1st round of the terminal expansion.
If nothing has changed it becomes a question of what to do if anything at all.
joleo wrote:
By then, I bet Allegiant will be flying to CUN and OMA-CUN would be on their list for sure.
They obviously don't fly anywhere scheduled internationally right now, but I'd be willing to bet one or multiple of Frontier, Delta, United, Southwest or American would do weekend Winter/Spring flights. For reference, Kansas City this past week had 6 flights to Cancun on 3 different airlines.
joleo wrote:
As far as Cabo (SJD). Maybe could work Saturday only for a couple months of the year? This one is more of a stretch though. CUN is not a stretch at all.
I think you'd see Puerto Vallarta before Cabo.
It would take some work with customs and such, but I think that they could be pretty viable options for a single airline to operate a route. The question of whether if anyone would pay up for this is another question since it would be entirely non-business families who are more worried about money than a large business sending a single employee would be.
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