Lincoln Airport Passenger Numbers Rose in 2022 as Officials Eye Additional Flights
Jan. 28—The Lincoln Airport continues to gain back some of the passenger traffic it lost since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nearly 186,000 passengers passed through the airport last year, a 9% increase over 2021 and an 80% increase over 2020. But that's still about 44% lower than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
Airport Executive Director David Haring said that while he's pleased with the progress, "we want to be beyond that."
The airport lost Delta Air Lines' remaining service to Minneapolis in January 2022 but was able to add United Airlines service to Houston in September, which boosted United's numbers for the year.
The airline ended the year with 178,367 passengers, a 33% increase over 2021 and only about a 12.5% decline from 2019.
United actually had its best December in several years, with 17,476 passengers during the month, 19% more than in December 2021 and the most for December since at least 2014.
Two factors helped drive those numbers. The airline had more than 10,600 seats available on departing flights for the month, compared with about 9,200 available in December 2021, and passengers occupied 87% of those seats, compared with only 83% in 2021.
Haring said he's heard "a lot of positive feedback from United" and sees the possibility of additional flights or, at the very least, larger planes on some routes in the future.
He also said he's "pretty hopeful" the airport will get new service this year from a new air carrier. If that happens, it's likely to be from an airline that focuses on leisure service.
The airport now has a $3 million fund provided by the city and county to use as an economic incentive to attract a new airline, and Haring said officials have been "pretty aggressive" in seeking out carriers, already having had discussions with four or five.
He said it would be relatively easy to get an airline to come to Lincoln by simply offering it $3 million, but that's not the approach officials want to take.
"We want to utilize that money in a way that gives us the biggest bang for our buck and service that lasts," Haring said.
A factor in when and whether an airline is willing to come to Lincoln could be the newly expanded terminal, for which construction continues to be delayed.
Officials had originally hoped to have the first phase of the project open this month, but in December said the opening had been delayed until April.
On Thursday, Haring said it now likely will not be open until May.
Avoiding further delays could be key in attracting a new leisure airline, which would want to start service in late spring or early summer to hit the height of vacation travel.
"We're still hopeful we can see a summer start of something," Haring said.
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