Holiday travel ramps up at Eppley Airfield, authorities advise caution

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Bev Hendrick is worried about the weather. She is traveling from Omaha to Arizona to visit family and feared her flight wouldn’t take off as scheduled.

“They’re predicting quite of bit of snow from what I’ve been told,” Hendrick said.

She was right to be nervous. Several flights at Eppley were delayed or canceled Wednesday because of a major storm making its way across the Midwest.

It couldn’t come at a worse time.

Stephen McCoy is the chief information and development officer for Eppley. He said they expect nearly three hundred thousand passengers will fly in and out of the airport between December 16th and January 5th.

“There will be higher volumes, there will be lines both at the airline checking counters, as well as the TSA,” McCoy said.

That’s more than they saw in 2019.

“It’s a lot of travelers who are infrequent travelers who haven’t flown in some time,” Hendrick said.

Hendrick says it’s been a while since she’s traveled because of the pandemic. Now that she’s able to, she’s happy she got the opportunity.

“I’m glad we can travel again, I love to travel,” Hendrick said.

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