Nebraska Airports Complete Guide — Maps and Useful travel Information

Eppley Airfield (OMA)

What Airports are There in Nebraska?

There are 82 public airports and 129 private ones in Nebraska. All of the public-use airports are regional since there are no international airports in the state. However, a lot of commercial airports in Nebraska have high traffic since they provide flights to many popular destinations across the U.S.

Eppley Airfield (OMA) is Nebraska’s only airport that serves over a million passengers each year. On the ”airports in Nebraska” map, you can see that it’s also the largest airport in the state. Annually, it welcomes more than 2 million passengers. Its on-time arrival performance is 80%. The on-time departure performance is 83.52%.

The smallest airport is McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport (MCK), welcoming around 3.2 thousand passengers every year.

All airports in Nebraska have around 2.7 million passengers per year, contributing 0.31% to the total traffic in the U.S.

List of Nebraska Airports

1. Eppley Airfield (OMA). Being the largest among Nebraska airports, it performed 73.5 thousand flights and carried 154.8 pounds of air cargo in 2020. Seven airlines operate here. On average, the airport has 88 departures in a day and provides non-stop flights to 33 destinations.
2. Central Nebraska Regional Airport (GRI). The scheduled passenger jet service is provided by two airlines: Allegiant Air and American Eagle. In 2020, it had 17.2 thousand aircraft operations. The most popular tourist destination is Las Vegas.
3. Lincoln Airport (LNK). The airport serves public and military aviation. In 2020, it served nearly 103 thousand passengers and had more than 58 flights. The primary airline operating in the airport is Delta Connection.
4. North Platte Regional Airport (Lee Bird Field) (LBF). Being among the small Nebraska airports, it’s served by a single airline (United Express) that provides regular flights to Denver. In 2020, it handled 32 thousand passengers and had 28 thousand departures and arrivals.
5. Western Nebraska Regional Airport (BFF). This public airport works with only one passenger airline (United Express). In 2020, it served 15.4 thousand passengers.

Airlines Which Fly to Nebraska

United Express appears to be the most popular airline among major airports in Nebraska. Here is a list of other popular airlines that operate here:

Delta Connection
American Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Allegiant Air

United Airlines
Frontier Airlines
American Eagle

Popular Destinations

The statistics of internet searches show that the most popular destination in airports in Nebraska is Omaha (81% of all queries). The other popular destinations are as follows:

Lincoln (14%)
Grand Island (2%)
Scottsbluff (1%)
North Platte (1%)
McCook (1%)

Nebraska Aviation History

Nebraska was the first state in the country to have its own navigational facilities. In 1955, the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics announced that three Wilcox VOR stations began operation in three different cities across the state. During the first month of their operation, the issues related to signal accuracy and signal radiation characteristics have been investigated and resolved. Thanks to that, several more VOR facilities appeared in the state.

Another important point in Nebraska aviation history was the first night air mail flight in the U.S. It occurred in 1921. The airplane flew to Omaha and then to Chicago.

The first electrically lit airfield took place in Nebraska as well. In 1923, Nebraska’s North Platte airport started to use electric lights instead of bonfires.