Eppley Airfield , also known as Omaha Airport, is an airport in the midwestern United States, located northeast of downtown Omaha, Nebraska. On the west bank of the Missouri River in Douglas County, it is the largest airport in Nebraska, with more arrivals and departures than all other airports in the state combined. It is classified as a medium hub airport by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It is owned and operated by the Omaha Airport Authority (OAA). History Eppley Airfield began as an extension of Levi Carter Park near East Omaha in 1925. That year, the City of Omaha acquired of cleared land on the east side of Carter Lake. Almost immediately, planes started landing and taking off there. A lawsuit was launched against the City in 1927 when a group wanted to build a hangar there. The lawsuit failed, and the land was called both the Omaha Municipal Airport and the American Legion Airport. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 42 scheduled airline departures per day, with 23 by United Airlines and 19 by Braniff International Airways. The airport is named for Eugene C. Eppley, founder of the Eppley Hotel chain, from whose estate $1 million was used to ready the then-Omaha Municipal Airport for jet aircraft in 1959–60. This was matched by the federal government and improvements were made to handle jets at the airport, which was renamed Eppley Airfield in his honor in 1960. The first jets to land in Omaha were United Boeing 720s in August 1960. The terminal building, opened in 1961, was designed by James C. Buckley, Inc. Concourse B opened in 1970, and was remodeled when Concourse A opened in 1986. Omaha Airport Authority Created in 1959, the Omaha Airport Authority is governed by a five member appointed board and is responsible for sole jurisdiction and operation of Eppley Airfield. Hubs and operations Midwest Airlines, then known as Midwest Express Airlines, operated a hub at Eppley Airfield from 1995 to 2002 with flights to Milwaukee, Newark, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Diego, and Washington–Reagan; the airport remained a focus city with nonstop flights to Milwaukee and Washington–Reagan until the airline merged with Frontier Airlines in 2009. During 2017, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines were the largest carriers and served 33.7, 21.6, and 18.7 percent of passengers, respectively. The airport has an on-site U.S. Customs and Border Protection