It probably doesn't come as a surprise to most of you that the Lincoln Airport's passenger numbers are down over the past year by 6 percent. Meanwhile, Eppley's numbers continue to rise. There's a very simple reason for Lincoln Airport's decline: flights tend to be cheaper out of Omaha than out of Lincoln, and many people in the region are all too happy to drive to Omaha to save a few bucks.
Is that a problem? Should Lincoln be worried? Maybe. I don't think it is panic time, but neither is it a good time for us to sit back and let the numbers slip away year after year. As Lincoln has learned well, "sit back and watch" is not a good economic development strategy.
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It doesn’t help that every time I hear of someone flying out of Lincoln, there are problems. I knew two people this last holiday season whose flights were canceled because there were not enough people booked to justify the flight.
This is anecdotal, of course, but it seems like the airlines don’t help instill confidence in the Lincoln airport.
I, myself, have never flown out of Lincoln because it’s consistently $100 or so more to do so.
I’d prefer to fly out of Lincoln, but it costs so much! Next month, my daughter and I are flying to D.C. and coming back on different schedules - it ended up being almost $500 cheaper for us to fly out of Omaha.
It is incredibly convenient to fly out of Lincoln, but it’s not always feasible (financially or otherwise to do so).
Eppley’s proximity (about an hour) from Lincoln makes it an easy decision to fly out of Omaha. In many larger cities, people don’t think twice about driving an hour to the airport. It’s not too late to create a regional airport somewhere between Omaha and Lincoln and it makes sense to do so. But neither city wants to give up its airport, which is why it hasn’t happened yet.
foxspit, I’ve been on the regional airport bandwagon for a long time. If one were built just west of Gretna both cities would benefit - more carriers, more flights, cheaper fares, more attractive to large businesses. Add a light rail line from each city to the airport and we’d be in business.
I’m dubious that a regional airport would benefit Omaha enough to justify them ditching Eppley. I would love to see the numbers, though.
For perspective, Denver International cost $5.2 billion in 1995.
why would Omaha give up Eppley when most of Lincoln goes to Omaha anyway?
building another airport when we already have a good one seems like a waste of money to me.
Eventually Omaha/CB is going to outgrow Eppley, THEN a airport in between the two cities makes sense.
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