Eppley Airfield breaks record again for monthly passengers

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I'm Melissa Wright in Omaha, where this city is becoming a destination stop for more travelers.

Eppley Airfield reported a record high with over 500- thousand travelers flying into the airport this June.

For the first time ever, Eppley Airfield hit a total of 514,758 passengers just last month. The record breaking number an 8.8% increase since the same time last year.

"A very important milestone for the airport as we see increased activity," said Steve McCoy.

Steve McCoy with Eppley Airfield, says June is typically a busy month due to the College World Series.

"A lot of that activity… travelers coming in and going out is driven by strong local economy generating a lot of that originating traffic," said McCoy.

McCoy added, the eight airlines in the airport provided 10% more capacity for the month June which also helped set the record.

Deborah Ward, the executive director at Visit Omaha says everyone is feeling the impact.

"It's visitors who are coming in to Omaha to enjoy our city not only our our development increasing but the interest from visitors is increasing. what's going on in Omaha," said Ward.

Ward says, research shows this June the most visitors came to Omaha.

"But another contributor to June success is the Triple Crown's SlumpBuster youth baseball tournament and games are played on baseball fields through out the metro throughout the college world series.. there were 732 teams this year… almost 60 more than last year," said Ward

Ward added with the renovations to the city especially like at Gene Leahy and The RiverFront, visitors will continue to become curious about Omaha leading to more economic boosts.

McCoy tells me with more travelers the expansion of the airport will allow for additional extension if needed in the future.