Omaha Eppley Airfield - DISCUSSION

[Bearcat06]

April up 38.5%, and up 57.2% YTD.
https://www.flyoma.com/wp-content/uploa ... istics.pdf

April is down compared to March, but that's in line with the 2018/2019 numbers. May thru Aug should be the best numbers followed by Oct and March.

April '22 is about 90% of the traffic from 2019 so still down a bit. But April '22 is about 93% of the 2018 traffic. For context 2018 had 20K more passengers than 2019 for the year.

Rough estimate for total traffic this year is 4,248,980 based on the first 4 months of the year, versus 2019 numbers.

[Bearcat06]

Question - flying into Omaha for the first time in 3 years next Tuesday and picking up a rental car. Are the rental car counters on the first level of the garage now? I have never had to pick up a rental at Eppley before, usually just jumped on the Budget transport to their parking lot.

The counters are now on the second floor through the garage to the north.

So pickup luggage on ground level and go back up. Ok. Thx

Yeh, not ideal I suppose

It is what it is . At Tampa International, you use to pick up your luggage, go outside, cross the traffic to the rental car counters and then take elevator to car. Now you get your luggage, take escalator back up to the level you arrived on, find the tram that will give you a ride out to the now separate rental car parking ramp - about 5-10 min ride. Find your rental car company, check in, get keys and then take an escalator down to where your car is parked.

DFW and Denver have a 5-10 minute bus ride to the rental car garage and Atlanta is about a 10 minute train to their rental garage.

At least going back up from the baggage claim at OMA there are escalators. Maybe the new terminal design will make it a little more efficient though since the escalators are more on the far ends of the baggage claim area??

[Uffda]

Question - flying into Omaha for the first time in 3 years next Tuesday and picking up a rental car. Are the rental car counters on the first level of the garage now? I have never had to pick up a rental at Eppley before, usually just jumped on the Budget transport to their parking lot.

Well rental car pickup wasn’t too bad. Cross the walkway bridge and down a hallway to counter area which is a nice big open area. Once paperwork is done, you take escalator down to level 1 or 2 to find your vendor’s cars.
I had used Enterprise and there booth was right up against the railing overlooking Abbott. I said to her it must get cold up here in the winter and her response was ‘oh yeah’.

[Greg S]

Question - flying into Omaha for the first time in 3 years next Tuesday and picking up a rental car. Are the rental car counters on the first level of the garage now? I have never had to pick up a rental at Eppley before, usually just jumped on the Budget transport to their parking lot.

The counters are now on the second floor through the garage to the north.

So pickup luggage on ground level and go back up. Ok. Thx

Yeh, not ideal I suppose

It is what it is . At Tampa International, you use to pick up your luggage, go outside, cross the traffic to the rental car counters and then take elevator to car. Now you get your luggage, take escalator back up to the level you arrived on, find the tram that will give you a ride out to the now separate rental car parking ramp - about 5-10 min ride. Find your rental car company, check in, get keys and then take an escalator down to where your car is parked.

We were just in Tampa (on Southwest)for the first time in April (loved the city), but our rental car experience was similar but took a lot longer. We flew in late. Had a long walk from gate to luggage. Then waited a long time for a tram (I think normally there are 2 but late they were only running 1?). Had to take that 2 stops to get to rental car area to check in (I have since joined the rapid rental club with Hertz), then went to get car. Returning it was a bit rough. Signage wasn't the best and even Google Maps was struggling with it.


Greg

[skinzfan23]

I used to work for Enterprise at the airport about 12 years ago....that was miserable. We had to wear dress clothes, and we had a tiny booth about 10x8 for 10 or so people. Most of the time you had to be on your feet and outside the booth and because the sun didn't shine into the garage, it was like a big fridge.

[Bob from Omaha]

Another tool for finding non stop routes from any airport in the world. Lots of other info as well.

FlightsFrom

[nativeomahan]

Another tool for finding non stop routes from any airport in the world. Lots of other info as well.

FlightsFrom

That is an excellent resource.

[TransitOriented]

Another tool for finding non stop routes from any airport in the world. Lots of other info as well.

FlightsFrom

I see hundreds of flights out of SVO (Moscow). Is this website up-to-date? Same with HKG.

[damonhynes]

Channel Third Wed. AM teased about an aircraft making an unexpected landing at OMA due to 'hydraulics'. The crawl across the bottom mentioned '12:15 Tuesday morning' but it wasn't mentioned at all on Tuesday afternoon and evening. Possibly a typo, it was really Wednesday early morning?

Anyhow, The Aviation Herald has no mention, and Omaha media can't be arsed to follow up. Any details?

[Brad]

Channel Third Wed. AM teased about an aircraft making an unexpected landing at OMA due to 'hydraulics'. The crawl across the bottom mentioned '12:15 Tuesday morning' but it wasn't mentioned at all on Tuesday afternoon and evening. Possibly a typo, it was really Wednesday early morning?

Anyhow, The Aviation Herald has no mention, and Omaha media can't be arsed to follow up. Any details?

Today (Wedensday)

[Brad]

Channel Third Wed. AM teased about an aircraft making an unexpected landing at OMA due to 'hydraulics'. The crawl across the bottom mentioned '12:15 Tuesday morning' but it wasn't mentioned at all on Tuesday afternoon and evening. Possibly a typo, it was really Wednesday early morning?

Anyhow, The Aviation Herald has no mention, and Omaha media can't be arsed to follow up. Any details?

Today (Wedensday)

It appears they also made a couple loops over western Iowa before they landed.

DELTA2517.JPG

[damonhynes]

Thanx, Brad!

[Brad]

Joe Gibbs Racing's Jet just landed in Omaha!

JGR-2022-06-04.png

[Bearcat06]

Not sure if this has been noted previously in the thread, but with construction possibly on the move soon I was checking around the interweb for news. It appears now Palsay Group is onboard versus Corgan? I couldn't confirm anything from Holder Construction's website.

https://paslaygroup.com/projects/omaha-eppley-airfield/

Looks like Palsay has done some work at Nashville, Pittsburgh, LAX, JFK and Kansas City. From the pics they are sharing on their site from those other locations I'm seeing some pretty modern designs and a lot of light in their terminals. They also have some covered arrival/departure areas in their images.

Here's to hoping for some new renderings for OMA in the near future and some CWS teams that bring a little extra air traffic to Omaha.

[Mr.Nuke]

Not sure if this has been noted previously in the thread, but with construction possibly on the move soon I was checking around the interweb for news. It appears now Paslay Group is onboard versus Corgan?

First of all good find. Beyond that I'm not sure how you reached that conclusion at all based on what you posted... From your link on that page if you click on the case study, literally the last paragraph reads as follows:

This approach has already paid dividends for OAA in light of COVID. The Authority was proceeding into early design efforts when COVID business impacts occurred in the 2nd Quarter of 2020. OAA was able to slow the project until business conditions changed while still retaining the builder and designer. OAA restarted the project effective January 2022 and PG looks forward to continued work with the Authority to implement the project.

https://paslaygroup.com/oma-case-study/

Corgan is an architectural firm. Paslay appears to be a very specific airport consultancy firm centered around capital improvement projects. The case study link above does a fairly good job of explaining what they've done and are still doing for Eppley; but it appears they basically helped the airport authority define what they wanted in a new terminal and how to set the bidding process for what Holder/Corgan ultimately successfully bid on.

I couldn't confirm anything from Holder Construction's website.

They won and retained the design/build bid for Eppley. I don't think you'll see much on their website or Corgan's until the final renderings are done.

[Bearcat06]

Corgan is an architectural firm. Paslay appears to be a very specific airport consultancy firm centered around capital improvement projects. The case study link above does a fairly good job of explaining what they've done and are still doing for Eppley; but it appears they basically helped the airport authority define what they wanted in a new terminal and how to set the bidding process for what Holder/Corgan ultimately successfully bid on.

I couldn't confirm anything from Holder Construction's website.

They won and retained the design/build bid for Eppley. I don't think you'll see much on their website or Corgan's until the final renderings are done.
[/quote]


Gotcha, I couldn't find anything on the Corgan site that had other builds noted so I was probably reaching a bit on the assumption.

I see now that Holder has just a quick blurb that they have a design build renovation/expansion with Corgan for Eppley, but it's just a pretty vague analysis. I think I was tripped up by the Palsay site noting Eppley was using their Exective Program Management services which also noted design-build.

So yeah, looks like Palsay is helping OAA oversee and coordinate things with Holder/Corgan doing the work.

Anyone taking bets on when we might see some new renderings? Should we set the over/under at December 1? Channel Third's story from April said final design to be done "by 2023" with construction to start in 2024.

[quod1]

Anyone know why they didn't give Eppley direct 1-29 access when Eppley was originally built?

[Dundeemaha]

Eppley's been around in some form since the 1920s.

When they built I29 in the 60s I would guess that the relative cost of a bridge over the river outweighed the convenience of a direct connection.

[Bearcat06]

Eppley's been around in some form since the 1920s.

When they built I29 in the 60s I would guess that the relative cost of a bridge over the river outweighed the convenience of a direct connection.

There was an interesting article in the OWH last week, not sure if the pay wall will stop you.

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/st ... 5963c.html

But it noted there was an effort back in the 1920's to try to build out on farmland near what is 168th and West Dodge today versus the swamp land where Eppley sits today, but that effort ultimately failed.

Would have been interesting to see what expansion could have been with a larger area like that versus being trapped like they are today, though I would think downtown Omaha might not be what it is today without the close access to the airport..

[Bearcat06]

Quick hitter from KETV noting the new terminal entrance and road is ready to be opened as of 6/22/22. Nothing else noted regarding construction/terminal modernization.

https://ketv.com/article/omaha-eppley-a ... e/40351445

[JDJase]

Quick hitter from KETV noting the new terminal entrance and road is ready to be opened as of 6/22/22. Nothing else noted regarding construction/terminal modernization.

https://ketv.com/article/omaha-eppley-a ... e/40351445

The World-Herald article about the new entrance notes:

Beginning next year, the Omaha Airport Authority will launch a $600 million effort to modernize Eppley’s main terminal. Construction could run through 2027.

The video on the article also says same thing with details about the project (though nothing we didn't already know here). Of course, what "efforts" will begin next year is open to interpretation...more studies? lol

[Coyote]

Travelers excited for new entrance to Eppley Airfield set to open Wednesday



KMTV 3 News Now

A new entrance is set to open Wednesday at Eppley Airfield. The change marks the end of a year-long project of construction as well as the start of more improvements to the airport.

[Mr.Nuke]

May up 20.3% year over year, 46.5% YTD
https://www.flyoma.com/wp-content/uploa ... istics.pdf

[Bearcat06]

May up 20.3% year over year, 46.5% YTD
https://www.flyoma.com/wp-content/uploa ... istics.pdf

Solid start to the 4-month summer stretch.

Compared to 2019, May numbers are down about 12% and compared to 2018, down about 10%.

OMA at a little over 1.7 million pax through May and I'm estimating they could finish the year around 4.3 million pax (currently running about 15% short of the 2019 numbers for the year) if the numbers hold. That would be about 500K more pax than 2021 and double 2020's numbers.

I want to say I saw in one of the recent news articles that the OAA was thinking they could be back at pre-pandemic numbers by 2023-2024...that might actually be plausible, though there are obviously many factors that could affect this.

[Iowafan8]

Thoughts about Eppley encouraging airport lounge development with the renovation? How far away are we from a Sky Club in Omaha?

[almighty_tuna]

Thoughts about Eppley encouraging airport lounge development with the renovation? How far away are we from a Sky Club in Omaha?

My guess is we won't get any sort of layover lounge until connecting flights start going through Omaha. Probably slim to none unless someone starts up a new airline (OmaAir?) out of Eppley. If one actually does come to fruition with this terminal upgrade, I'd expect it to be replaced by a Scooters within a year.

[Bearcat06]

Eppley and LNK on a list of 85 airports to receive part of $1 billion from the FAA for improvements.

Not sure if this is in addition to the $7.25 million allocated to OMA that was announced back in Dec of 2021 for the '22 fiscal year or not. That list had 3,000 airports earmarked and I think had $2.89 billion doled out.

https://ketv.com/article/omaha-eppley-a ... t/40543826

Denver ($60 million), Boston/Orlando ($50 million each), Dulles ($49.6 million) and Pittsburgh ($20 million for bathrooms for their $1.4 billion terminal that's in progress) getting pretty good chunks.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/bu ... ure%20bill.

[Mr.Nuke]

Eppley and LNK on a list of 85 airports to receive part of $1 billion from the FAA for improvements.

Not sure if this is in addition to the $7.25 million allocated to OMA that was announced back in Dec of 2021 for the '22 fiscal year or not. That list had 3,000 airports earmarked and I think had $2.89 billion doled out.

Eppley appears to have received $20 million this round and Lincoln $850,000.
https://www.faa.gov/bil/airport-terminals

[Mr.Nuke]

Thoughts about Eppley encouraging airport lounge development with the renovation? How far away are we from a Sky Club in Omaha?

Quite a ways... Kansas City which will get a Delta Sky Club as part of the new terminal down there had nearly 2.1 million passengers on Delta alone in 2019. Omaha had about 1.1 million.

My guess is we won't get any sort of layover lounge until connecting flights start going through Omaha.

Connecting traffic certainly helps with lounges but there are a lot of lounges in places like Kansas City or Austin or Fort Lauderdale, etc. that aren't connecting anyone.

[Coyote]

Lincoln, Omaha airports getting federal grant funds

The Lincoln and Omaha airports will both receive federal grant funds to help pay for terminal improvements, Sen. Deb Fischer announced Thursday. Eppley Airfield in Omaha is getting $20 million for its terminal access road project, while the Lincoln Airport will receive $850,000 for its terminal modernization project. The grants come from $5 billion that was approved specifically for airport terminal projects as part of the federal infrastructure law. The Federal Aviation Administration announced the first $1 billion in grants Thursday. “It’s exciting to see investments from the infrastructure law go to airport projects that will make a difference for Nebraska travelers," Fischer said in a news release. "This is big news for Nebraskans who rely on our airports for travel, business and to stay connected." The Lincoln Airport is in the midst of a $55 million project to expand and renovate its nearly 50-year-old terminal. The $850,000 will go specifically toward replacing existing cooling towers, fans, exhaust decks, control equipment and related plumbing.



The Lincoln Airport is getting an $850,000 federal grant to help with its terminal expansion project.

[MTO]

Oh how exciting!! A new garage then new roads our airport is finally something to be proud of.

[Bearcat06]

Interesting tidbit from the OWH article that the 20 million is to be used for adding a 7th driving lane and a canopy to cover the area between the south garage and the terminal.

[NEDodger]

My hope is that the 7th lane ends up being either an arrivals-only or departures-only lane. Those need to be split up so you don’t have the mess of congestion alongside the terminal-side lane like you do now.

[almighty_tuna]

Connecting traffic certainly helps with lounges but there are a lot of lounges in places like Kansas City or Austin or Fort Lauderdale, etc. that aren't connecting anyone.

That's true, but their respective passenger volumes are far higher than Eppley's. Still a long way to go in many aspects before Omaha all growed up.

[Mr.Nuke]

That's true, but their respective passenger volumes are far higher than Eppley's. Still a long way to go in many aspects before Omaha all growed up.

I deleted a more poorly worded response that I had made to this early in the week, but yes, I that is basically what I was a addressing in the first half of the post you quoted for this response. Kansas City is getting a Delta lounge. Delta effectively had double the passengers in 2019 pass through Kansas City compared to Omaha. Total passenger volumes for an airport don't tell the whole story in a lounge situation there are also additional factors like hub status/competitor hub status, corporate contracts, percent of traffic a particular airline gets at a given airport, etc. Suffice to say like I initially posted, Eppley is no where near getting an airline specific lounge when you look at passenger levels for given airlines at airports where they have lounges.

[Bearcat06]

That's true, but their respective passenger volumes are far higher than Eppley's. Still a long way to go in many aspects before Omaha all growed up.

I deleted a more poorly worded response that I had made to this early in the week, but yes, I that is basically what I was a addressing in the first half of the post you quoted for this response. Kansas City is getting a Delta lounge. Delta effectively had double the passengers in 2019 pass through Kansas City compared to Omaha. Total passenger volumes for an airport don't tell the whole story in a lounge situation there are also additional factors like hub status/competitor hub status, corporate contracts, percent of traffic a particular airline gets at a given airport, etc. Suffice to say like I initially posted, Eppley is no where near getting an airline specific lounge when you look at passenger levels for given airlines at airports where they have lounges.

I wonder what Delta's share is at KCI in comparison to OMA. Obviously, they had more traffic in general, but SWA runs about 34-36% of the pax load at OMA with AA, Delta each around 20% and United around 14-15% yearly. And that goes back consistently to at least the 2018 numbers so there hasn't much change in routes/flights that move any of the major carries more than a percentage point or so year to year. I'd have to think pax share might play a part in building a lounge as well.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

That's true, but their respective passenger volumes are far higher than Eppley's. Still a long way to go in many aspects before Omaha all growed up.

I deleted a more poorly worded response that I had made to this early in the week, but yes, I that is basically what I was a addressing in the first half of the post you quoted for this response. Kansas City is getting a Delta lounge. Delta effectively had double the passengers in 2019 pass through Kansas City compared to Omaha. Total passenger volumes for an airport don't tell the whole story in a lounge situation there are also additional factors like hub status/competitor hub status, corporate contracts, percent of traffic a particular airline gets at a given airport, etc. Suffice to say like I initially posted, Eppley is no where near getting an airline specific lounge when you look at passenger levels for given airlines at airports where they have lounges.

I wonder what Delta's share is at KCI in comparison to OMA. Obviously, they had more traffic in general, but SWA runs about 34-36% of the pax load at OMA with AA, Delta each around 20% and United around 14-15% yearly. And that goes back consistently to at least the 2018 numbers so there hasn't much change in routes/flights that move any of the major carries more than a percentage point or so year to year. I'd have to think pax share might play a part in building a lounge as well.

Last year at KCI Delta's share was 14% of passengers, or about 1.2 million. They are the second largest carrier there after Southwest, whose share was 43% or 3.6 million.

[Mr.Nuke]

I wonder what Delta's share is at KCI in comparison to OMA. Obviously, they had more traffic in general, but SWA runs about 34-36% of the pax load at OMA with AA, Delta each around 20% and United around 14-15% yearly. And that goes back consistently to at least the 2018 numbers so there hasn't much change in routes/flights that move any of the major carries more than a percentage point or so year to year. I'd have to think pax share might play a part in building a lounge as well.

Pre pandemic, in 2019 Delta's share in Kansas City was 19.5% vs 47.7% for Southwest, 14.6% for American and 10.6% for United. So yeah, passenger share certainly plays a part in it, and with those numbers it isn't surprising that if there was going to be an airline specific lounge in Kansas City that it would be Delta.

[joleo]

https://www.kcci.com/article/number-of- ... c/40589327

Looks like DSM finally exceed 2019 pre pandemic levels for June 2022. I wonder if OMA will as well?

[Mr.Nuke]

https://www.kcci.com/article/number-of- ... c/40589327

Looks like DSM finally exceed 2019 pre pandemic levels for June 2022. I wonder if OMA will as well?

Eppley did not. June up 7% year over year and up 36.6% YTD. That is off 11.8% versus June of 2019 and off 14% versus 1/1-6/30 vs. 2019.

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