The Lincoln Airport is never going to compete with Omaha's Eppley Airfield for level of service and low fares.
But the local airport director and others in the airline industry say Lincoln is doing all it can to attract and keep air service and doesn't deserve the criticism that has been leveled at it.
Earlier this month, Steve Glenn, president of Executive Travel, sent out a news release saying a recent survey showed that round-trip fares on average are $170 higher in Lincoln than in Omaha.
"The price difference of $170 between the two airports was the highest I can recall in the 21 years we have been doing these surveys and is $66 a ticket higher than it was when the last survey was completed in May 2005,"said Glenn, who is a former Airport Authority board member. "This should be an alarming figure to Lincoln airport officials and the business community."
Glenn said it's evidence that the local airport is becoming a "convenience store,"where travelers pay a high premium for the convenience of flying out of Lincoln and only business travelers and those who can't get to Omaha use it.
Airport Executive Director John Wood knows fares at his airport are higher than those in Omaha and Kansas City, but he says the gap isn't as high as Glenn's survey claims.
Wood, the airport's executive director, called the survey "misleading at best."
"I'm not going to dispute that fares here are higher than in Omaha," Wood said. "But that can change on any single day."
The survey, which was completed Nov. 5, looked at fares to 22 cities.
One of the reasons Glenn cited for the higher fares was the lack of air service in Lincoln.
Northwest Airlines dropped Memphis as a destination last year and has trimmed its service to Detroit from three to a single daily flight.
The airline also dropped one of five daily departures to Minneapolis in the spring, and despite repeated assurances that the flight would return, it is still not back on the schedule.
United Airlines has reduced capacity, and Allegiant Air, though it has seen growth in the number of passengers, had not expanded beyond its twice-weekly service to Las Vegas.
Those conditions have helped contribute to passenger numbers at the Lincoln Airport that are on track for a double-digit decline compared with last year, which was the worst year for passenger numbers in two decades.
Through October, a little more than 287,000 people have flown into and out of Lincoln. That's down 11 percent from the same time last year, according to figures from the airport.
That decline has come as similar-sized airports in the region have added service and reported increases in passengers.
Through July, passenger numbers at the Sioux Falls, S.D., airport were up 2.6 percent over 2006, which was a record year for the airport. Over the past couple of years, Sioux Falls has added service to Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Orlando, Phoenix and other destinations.
Sioux City, Iowa, and Rapid City, S.D., both much smaller cities than Lincoln, recently added service to Denver from Frontier Airlines.
So why does Lincoln seem to be the odd city out in the region?
To some degree it has to do with the overall health of the airline industry, but Wood said the big reason is the Big O.
Lincoln's proximity to Omaha is always going to make it hard to compete, he said.
"Being an hour away from Omaha makes it very difficult," said Wood, who estimated that 65 percent of Lincoln fliers go to Omaha.
Sioux Falls, Rapid City and even Sioux City are far enough away from larger airports to make them more attractive to airlines considering new service, he said.
While Wood's explanation may ring hollow with the airport's critics, it makes perfect sense to those involved in aviation.
"You've got to recognize the airport's doing everything it can," said Mike Boyd, president of aviation consulting company The Boyd Group.
"It's not like going to the airline store and picking up Southwest airlines," he said. "It doesn't work like that."
Boyd said Lincoln has many things going for it, such as being a state capital, having a major university and having a lot of lawyers, but it is still in the shadow of a much larger airport.
And as long as most people are willing to drive an hour to Omaha for cheaper fares and better flight selection, Lincoln is going to struggle to attract service, he said.
"Airlines cannot take the chance today," Boyd said.
Wood said that's one of the problems he encounters in talking to airlines. Before they consider adding service to Lincoln, they want to see how much the airport is being used.
That is the opposite of passengers, he said, who aren't likely to use the airport more until there's more service.
Despite its struggles, the Lincoln Airport has at least one admirer.
"Whenever I'm talking to whomever will listen, I compare us to you," said Mike Humberd, president of the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority.
Anyone who thinks things are bad in Lincoln should talk to Humberd.
His airport lost its only commercial air service - Allegiant - earlier this year, despite the fact that planes were about 80 percent full on average.
Humberd said Topeka has "fabulous potential" when it comes to air service, but like Lincoln, it struggles because it's close to a much larger airport.
The drive to Kansas City from Topeka is even longer than the one from Lincoln to Omaha, but Topeka residents have been making it regularly for most of the past two decades as Topeka struggled to keep any semblance of regular commercial air service.
Humberd, though, is hoping to change that. He said he has been in talks with United to start service to Denver and American Airlines to start service to St. Louis.
He's hoping both will take off next spring, but, "I'll believe it when Isee the first airplane taxi."
Wood, too, is optimistic that Lincoln may get some new service next year. He declined to say what it would be, but the airport has been in talks with Trans States Airlines to begin service under the American name to St. Louis.
Wood also is hoping that some of the Northwest flights that have dropped off the schedule will come back and that Allegiant might consider expanding.
He pointed to Allegiant, which began Lincoln service in February 2006, and also to Northwest's addition of service to Detroit in 2004 and Memphis in 2005 - even though it shut down less than a year later - as evidence that the airport is working hard and having some success.
"We're not going to quit trying,"Wood said. "I'm just going to point out that it's difficult."
PASSENGER NUMBERS
1999: 552,510
2000: 523,229
2001: 464,035
2002: 450,250
2003: 413,553
2004: 438, 270
2005: 403,766
2006: 379,825
Source: Lincoln Airport Authority
