[Steve_W]

Supposedly Omaha City Council breifly discussed the future of Eppley and the economic impacts of building a large Hub airport between omaha and lincoln. I guess the FAA claims a need of 2-4 large hub airports throughout the US the ease air traffic congestion and eastern Nebraska is ideal. A relative of mine works in the city planning dept. and I guess theres been lots of talk and activity on the subject lately according to him. Am I late on this subject or just no news of it?

[Dave1215]

My gut feel is Omaha the city would not be in favor of such an item. This would move a major economic driver outside the city boundaries, away from downtown, and away from the convention center. It would take a lot of momentum out of the downtown/river movement. So I can't believe the Omaha Planning Dept would be involved.

If anyone would be involved it would be a movement outside of the Omaha city government. Maybe the Josyln Institute or the I-80 Commission. It would have to be a more regional movement and not driven by a single city or county. To cross the jurisdictions and to be between Omaha/Lincoln I think it would have to come out of the I-80 Commission and I don't believe they have that on their near-term radar.

The I-80 Commission is (or I guess its technically the Nebraska Innovation Zone Commission (http://www.neded.org/content/view/197/719/ - broken link)) and Josyln is (or Joslyn Castle Institute) .

Anything promoted by the Omaha Planning Commission that crosses so many towns/cities/counties would be hard pressed to succeed in the near term. It has to be cooperative by all the governments, especially if its to live outside of Douglas County.

[Steve_W]

Maybe what he's hearing are early plans to fight such a thing. Who knows, there was some sort of an issue about it. LOL I hate not knowing any details.

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by Steve_W

Maybe what he's hearing are early plans to fight such a thing. Who knows, there was some sort of an issue about it. LOL I hate not knowing any details.

I remember hearing a few years ago some discussion in the paper about the concept, but that's all it was. I have not heard anything else about it since that time.

[kosnebbear]

It would be nice to have a major international hub airport in Nebraska. The one major reason that this idea will never happen is that no one wants to come to Nebraska in the first place. I work in Europe and very few people even knows where Nebraska is. They know where Kansas City is at, Minneapolis, Saint Louis, Denver, Chicago, but no one knows where Omaha or even Lincoln is at. With this in mind and also with the fact that Omaha or Lincoln want to give up their airports. This idea is like the one where they wanted to build a new football stadium between Omaha and Lincoln along I-80a few years back. The reason was that more people from Omaha came to the games than from other parts of Nebraska. They are still playing in Lincoln. There will never be a international airport in Nebraska.

[Steve_W]

Technically eppley could arrange an air carrier for flights to any random city in Canada and rename it as an Int'l Arpt. Des Moines seems to enjoy the Int'l title. I dont really think it would have any benefits however, it might sound better than "Airfield". Omaha confuses me, a majority want's to transform omaha's image as a small cowtown so maybe Eppley Airport might seem more viable concidering we are always looking for new carriers to try to boost passenger numbers. Airports are main signatures for their cities and by the looks of the "airfield" it could use some updating, rows and rows of pay phones seem a bit unessesary.

Oh yeah, being a hub airport many times passengers are only connecting to other flights from that location. I think passengers wouldnt think twice about the location of their layover if the price of the ticket was right. But no, I really doubt nebraska would ever have such an airport either.

[mattpoulsen]

The point is that the OmaLink airport would serve as a hub. It doesn't really matter if a lot of the arrivals are staying in Nebraska. The reason for the interest is the same reason that Denver and Chicago are hubs....it is at a geographical center. People throughout the midwest can then use OmaLink as a connection hub instead of using the overfilled Denver and Chicago airports.

The FAA recognizes that the current system is busting at the seams and it needs major expansion.

I also think that Omaha may be a bit more interested than you give them credit for. A hub like airport would give Omaha more national exposure as a major U.S. city...something that Eppley simply does not do. Yes, there may be some lost revenue to the downtown area, but that can be made up through promised revenue streams from the new location. Plus, it would free up some very nice riverside land. The one issue is the convenient location for incoming business travelers, but I think that's something that is workable.

Another thing it would do is more intimately connect the Lincoln and Omaha metros. Obviously, the politics between Lincoln, Omaha, and the respective counties would have to be hashed out. In the end, I think it would benefit both cities. But, if it would happen, I don't see it coming for quite a while.

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by mattpoulsen

I also think that Omaha may be a bit more interested than you give them credit for.

Another thing it would do is more intimately connect the Lincoln and Omaha metros. Obviously, the politics between Lincoln, Omaha, and the respective counties would have to be hashed out.

In the end, I think it would benefit both cities. But, if it would happen, I don't see it coming for quite a while.

I don't think we are too far off each other on most points. Its the politics and individual interests between all of the political subdivisions (citites and counties) that will get in the way of an Omaha/Lincoln Metro airport, unless it comes out of something larger like the I-80 Commission (http://www.neded.org/content/view/197/719/ - broken link). This is the reason that if it does happen it will be quite a ways off.

Omaha on its own will not push for this. Since his question started with a rumor that the City Planning Department was leading something in this regards, that's where my comments started from. It will be a regional effort, not a City Planning Dept effort.