Eppley Airfield

For travelers flying into or out of the metropolitan Omaha area, Eppley Airfield provides access to air transportation to destinations throughout the country. As the largest airport in Nebraska, Eppley Airfield serves the region’s air travel needs, offering nearly 400 flights per week to destinations including Houston, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, and New York City. The airport features two concourses and twenty gates and serves over four million passengers per year. Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier at the facility, followed by Delta and United in a tie for second place.

The largest commercial airport in Nebraska, Eppley Airfield derived its name from Omaha businessman and hotelier Eugene C. Eppley. A portion of Eppley’s estate was used in 1959 and 1960 in order to convert the Omaha Municipal Airport into a jet port capable of accepting large numbers of commercial flights. This expansion led to the airport gaining regional prominence, and today serves more than four million passengers each year. Eppley Airfield currently provides only domestic service, offering flights to destinations throughout the U.S.

Southwest Airlines is the primary airline at Eppley Airfield, serving over twenty-five percent of all passengers who pass through the airport. United Airlines and Delta Airlines compete for second place, serving about twenty percent each; about 400 flights arrive and depart weekly. In 2009 over four million travelers passed through Eppley Airfield, making it one of the major air travel centers in the United States. Travelers coming from downtown Omaha to the airport must cross through Iowa in order to reach Eppley Airfield, as it is surrounded on three sides by the state; this oddity is due to a shift in the course of the Missouri River, which left a small portion of Iowa on the west side of the river. Eppley is located adjacent to this area.