Eppley Airfield

Eppley Airfield
IATA: OMA – ICAO: KOMA – FAA LID: OMA
Summary
Owner/Operator Omaha Airport Authority
Serves Eastern Nebraska, western Iowa
Location Omaha, Nebraska
Elevation AMSL 984 ft / 300 m
Coordinates 41°18′04″N 95°53′43″W / 41.3012°N 95.8954°W / 41.3012; -95.8954
Website www.flyoma.com
Map


OMA
Location in Nebraska
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
14R/32L 9,502 2,896 Asphalt/Concrete
14L/32R 8,500 2,591 Concrete
18/36 8,154 2,485 Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015)
Passengers (2015) 4.17 million
Aircraft operations (2009) 111,155
Cargo in pounds (2013) 93,000,000
Mail in pounds (2013) 51,000,000
Sources: FAA[1] and airport web site[2]

Eppley International Airport (IATA: OMA, ICAO: KOMA, FAA LID: OMA) is a medium hub airport three miles northeast of Omaha, Nebraska, in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States. It is by far the largest airport in Nebraska, serving ten times more passengers than all other Nebraska airports combined, and is named for Eugene C. Eppley, the Eppley Hotel magnate of Omaha, from whose estate $1.0 million was used to convert Omaha Municipal Airport into a jetport in 1959/1960.[3]

The airport occupies 2,650 acres (1,070 ha) and handles about 70-75 airline flights per day to 20 daily and 3 seasonal non-stop destinations.[4] Eppley served 4.17 million passengers in 2015 (including both enplaned and deplaned passengers).

History

The April 1957 OAG shows 42 scheduled airline departures a day: 23 United and 19 Braniff. The first jets were United Airlines 720s in Aug-Sept 1960.

On August 6, 1966 Braniff Airways Flight 250 left Kansas City Downtown Airport headed for Eppley and crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, killing all 42 on board. The flight was waiting for weather to clear in Omaha before descending when violent turbulence compromised the structural integrity of the plane.[5]

Several films have used Eppley for a few scenes including the 2002 feature film About Schmidt which included scenes filmed inside and outside the terminal building, and the 2009 feature film Up in the Air which made use of the south end of the terminal building during filming.

The terminal building, opened in 1961, was designed by James C. Buckley, Inc.[6] Concourse B opened in 1970,[7] and it was remodeled when Concourse A opened in 1986.[8]

Midwest Airlines, then known as Midwest Express, operated a focus city at Eppley Airfield from 1995 to 2002 with flights to Milwaukee, Newark, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Orlando, and Washington–Reagan; the airport remained a focus city with nonstops to Milwaukee and Washington until the merger with Frontier Airlines in 2010.[9] As of April 2015, Omaha has no international flights. The airport handled more than 4.1 million passengers in 2014. Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines are the first-, second-, and third-largest carriers and serve about 33 percent, 22 percent, and 22 percent, respectively, of passengers.[2]

Expansion

Current

Parking Garage

On February 18, 2015, The Omaha Airport Authority board approved the plan for design work to begin on an approximately $71 million, six-story parking garage. The new garage is to be built north of the existing six-story garage, and construction on the first project would begin in about a year. The project will be expected to be completed in fall 2017. The first phase would provide 2,200 parking stalls, with 850 stalls for rental cars and 1,350 public stalls. [10]

Airport

Construction and upgrades are planned for Eppley Airfield's terminal and tarmac. An expansion to the runway 36/18 will be added in order to have larger aircraft landing, as well as taxiway A being enlarged to handle such aircraft. Next, Concourses A and B will be joined together by a long corridor, and expanded in the northern direction, adding 8 more jetways. This expansion will also add 6-8 more security checkpoints, instead of the current two. After construction, there will be a total of 28 gates, with some able to handle larger aircraft. On either side of the "megaterminal" the ramp will be extended for overnight aircraft parking.

In January 2016, Eppley Airfield completed the expansion of its on-site United States Customs and Border Protection facility (CBP) to provide greater customs and inspection services for international passengers. While Eppley Airfield is classified as a "Port of Entry" for international flights (officially an "international airport") by United States Customs and Border Protection, there is no regularly scheduled international passenger service; however, the airport does handle international flights - mostly from chartered or private services.

Location

The airport is northeast of downtown Omaha in east Omaha. Although the airport is in Nebraska on the west side of the Missouri River, it is surrounded on the east, west and south by the state of Iowa: the Missouri River formerly formed an oxbow west of the land that became Eppley Airfield. The river cut off the oxbow during an 1877 flood, leaving behind Carter Lake on a portion of its former course; the Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that though the land cut off by the river's changed route now lay west of the Missouri, it remained part of Iowa. This land eventually became the city of Carter Lake, Iowa.[11]

Terminals

Central Terminal

The Central Terminal contains the ground transportation center and rental car counters.

Gate System

The gate system of Eppley Airfield is a "running total system". This means that when a new concourse begins, the gate number does not reset to 1 with the prefix of the Concourse's letter. For example, the gates go from A10 to B11; there is no B1, as the running total keeps the number going with a different prefix. Gate B20 is unused, and its boarding area is used as a security checkpoint, with access to the jetway restricted.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsConcourse
Alaska Airlines Seattle/Tacoma A
Alaska Airlines
operated by SkyWest Airlines 		Portland (OR) A
Allegiant Air Orlando/Sanford, St. Petersburg/Clearwater
Seasonal: Oakland 		A
American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Phoenix–Sky Harbor A
American Eagle Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth A
Delta Airlines Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Seasonal: Salt Lake City 		A
Delta Connection Atlanta (begins January 2, 2017), Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York–LaGuardia, Salt Lake City, Washington–National A
Frontier Airlines Denver, Orlando A
Southwest Airlines Chicago–Midway, Dallas–Love, Denver, Houston-Hobby (begins March 9, 2017),[12] Las Vegas, Phoenix–Sky Harbor, St. Louis, Washington–National
Seasonal: Los Angeles, Orlando 		B
United Airlines Chicago–O'Hare, Denver
Seasonal: Houston–Intercontinental 		B
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Houston–Intercontinental, Newark, San Francisco B

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Ameriflight Beatrice, Grand Island, Kearney, Norfolk
AirNet Express Des Moines
DHL Aviation
operated by Suburban Air Freight 		Cincinnati
FedEx Express
operated by Baron Aviation Services 		Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte
FedEx Express Indianapolis, Memphis
UPS Airlines Billings, Louisville, Reno/Tahoe, Winnipeg

Statistics

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from OMA (September 2015 – August 2016)[13]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Denver, Colorado 293,000 Frontier, Southwest, United
2 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois 223,000 American, United
3 Atlanta, Georgia 196,000 Delta
4 Chicago–Midway, Illinois 193,000 Southwest
5 Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona 159,000 American, Southwest
6 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 149,000 American
7 Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota 149,000 Delta
8 Las Vegas, Nevada 111,000 Southwest
9 St. Louis, Missouri 106,000 Southwest
10 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 70,000 United

Annual traffic

Annual passenger traffic (enplaned + deplaned) at OMA, 2002 through 2014[14]
Year Passengers Year Passengers
20023,608,23120094,217,718
20033,667,19020104,287,428
20043,868,21720114,212,399
20054,193,04620124,127,344
20064,229,85620134,042,333
20074,421,27420144,119,730
20084,370,13720154,169,467

Ground transportation

MAT Line 16[15] provides limited weekday-only rush hour service southbound toward downtown and northbound toward the North Omaha Transit Center. Passenger access is located directly outside the central terminal.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ FAA Airport Master Record for OMA (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-10-25
  2. 1 2 Eppley Airfield, official web site
  3. ↑ Eppley Grant of $1 Million Gives Omaha Jet Field - Lincoln Evening Journal, 1959-12-31
  4. ↑ "Non-Stop Destinations". www.flyoma.com. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  5. ↑ "Braniff Airliner Hits Nebraska Bean Field". The Spokesman-Review. August 8, 1966. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  6. ↑ American Aviation. 24. 1960.
  7. ↑ Mezzy, Dick (July 5, 1970). "Eppley Elevated Terminal Ready". Lincoln Star. p. 16. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Airport Authority of the City of Omaha, Airport Facilities Revenue Bonds" (PDF). www.fpr.net. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Frontier Airlines and Midwest to fly under one name - Apr. 13, 2010".
  10. ↑ Omaha World Herald. "Easing the Parking Crunch: 6-story, 2,200-stall Garage Coming to Eppley Airfield in 2017." Omaha.com. Omaha World Herald, 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. <http://www.omaha.com/money/easing-the-parking-crunch--story--stall-garage-coming/article_790a6390-b6d2-11e4-9734-039b1a169392.html>.
  11. ↑ Nebraska v. Iowa, 406 U.S. 117 (1972).
  12. ↑ http://swamedia.com/releases/bay-to-beaches-oakland-to-mexico-nonstop-service-now-available-for-booking-as-southwest-airlines-extends-flight-schedule-through-late-april-2017?l=en-US
  13. ↑ "RITA - BTS - Transtats".
  14. ↑ "Omaha Airport Authority -". Omaha Airport Authority.
  15. ↑ http://www.ometro.com/bus-system/bus-routes/east-omaha-north-16th-weekdays-only

External links

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