One of the tallest capitol buildings in the nation, the National Museum of Roller Skating, and more than 100 parks can all be found in Lincoln, the capital and largest city of Nebraska, which has a population of around 290,000.
It isn't well known for being a booming hub for airline service, though.
As an ultra-low-cost carrier makes it its primary focus region this summer, the city hopes to change that.
The Red Way business intends to run twice-weekly flights out of Lincoln Airport (LNK) to a few U.S. cities. The company appeared out of nowhere and generated headlines among local news sources and airline industry blogs around the end of March.
With ongoing pilot shortages and other residual effects of the pandemic era, Lincoln is one of many small U.S. airports that have struggled to maintain commercial aviation service. Red Way nevertheless aspires to achieve in the metropolis.
Red Way primarily serves as a "virtual airline" by managing sales and bookings through a website bearing the Red Way logo, with Florida-based charter airline Global Crossing Airlines providing and managing the Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft.
Red Way CEO Nickolas Wangler claimed that the pandemic was a driving force for the airline's development because it caused traditional airlines like Delta Air Lines to discontinue service to the city. Lincoln Airport is now only served by United Airlines, with flights to its hubs in Chicago, Denver, and Houston.
What if we created something that was leisure-based and leisure-focused and had Lincoln as its starting point, Wangler suggested?
Wangler claimed that he had been negotiating the expansion of Lincoln Airport's air service with them for a number of years. Red Way's chief marketing officer, Sarah Riches, claimed that the "strong community support" was the reason they decided on Lincoln.
Red Way is the result of the Lincoln community's ambition to introduce a leisure-based airline to its airport, according to the airport's executive director David Haring. The project received "revenue guarantees" in the form of COVID-19 relief payments from the city and county.
An airport or a municipality will guarantee a minimum amount of money that a carrier will make when it begins operations.
The airport or town must pay up any revenue deficit between what was made and what was guaranteed as a minimum if the carrier doesn't satisfy the minimum revenue promises.
According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Lancaster County, and Lincoln invested $3 million in COVID-19 funding, which was provided by the American Rescue Act, to find a replacement air carrier.
We had a clear idea in our heads that we wanted to concentrate on the leisure markets, Haring added.
"It is something we have done.
As a result of COVID-19, we also intended to take advantage of the chance to regain some of the markets we lost.
From Lincoln, Red Way intends to offer flights to Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Orlando.
Red Way does offer flights to Delta hubs in Atlanta and Minneapolis, but according to Wangler, the airline in no way intends to take the place of legacy carriers or compete with them.
In addition, he expressed confidence in Red Way's ability to boost departures from Lincoln Airport.
Wangler declared, "This is only a play for fun."
"It goes up with the capacity we're adding."
Red Way will, according to Wangler, react immediately to customer demand, thus if a specific route is unpopular with passengers, Red Way will drop it.
Red Way intends to run more flights during the winter to warmer U.S. locations.
The goal of the entire business, according to Wangler, is to be nimble and seasonal in nature, and to fly to the busiest markets and times of the year.
On June 16, Red Way will conduct its inaugural flight to Orlando at Lincoln Airport.
But there is a lot of doubt about charter airlines' profitability.
The startup's long-term viability was questioned by Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry researcher and the creator of the consulting firm Atmosphere Research.
The name "Red Way" for the airline "makes sense, as I think the company would hemorrhage money," said Harteveldt.
The startup's chances of success have also been questioned by pundits and bloggers in the airline business. Red Way's focus city selection of Lincoln, its constrained flight schedule, and its bundles are some of the factors contributing to the uncertainty (which see prices jump significantly for ancillary perks such as carry-ons, checked baggage, and priority boarding).
Red Way, for instance, offers special rates for flights starting at $69 from LNK to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
When a carry-on and a checked bag are included in the ticket, those prices rise to $169. Red Way offers prices for the LNK-ATL route as high as $449 for additional benefits including priority boarding and premium seating.
According to Wangler, the pricing structure is similar to those of JetBlue or Southwest.
Based on recent Department of Transportation data that is available on Cirium, Red Way might have its job cut out for it, regardless of the price.
According to federal data spanning the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022—the most recent period for which the data is available—few individuals have been flying the new routes being offered by Red Way.
For instance, just 6.5 people per day on average flew from LNK to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) via a stopover.
There were even fewer passengers on certain other routes, which at the moment involve a connection; flights between LNK and ATL had a daily average of 1.3 passengers. Contrarily, LNK's busiest route, to O'Hare International Airport (ORD), saw a daily average of 23.9 passengers.
Very few people appear to fly to them from Lincoln, which is why other airlines don't currently run flights from Lincoln to the cities Red Way aims to serve, according to Harteveldt.
And there are other challenges that Lincoln and Red Way must overcome.
An additional difficulty for LNK is the bigger airport in Omaha, the largest city in the area and only 60 miles from downtown Lincoln.
The places to which Red Way will sell flights are already served by Omaha.
One of Lincoln's main issues, like that of many airports its size, is persuading locals to fly from home rather to driving to Omaha for more accessible or frequent options.
Despite all the criticism, Wangler is steadfast in Red Way's goal.
Red Way expects to draw customers from Lincoln and the neighboring areas, so Wangler stated, "We're focusing on one market and one catchment area, and that's really going to be where it's at."
He continued by saying that he believes Red Way's presence will offer relief to Lincoln locals looking for reasonably priced transportation from the city's airport.
We aren't creating a market that doesn't exist, he insisted.
We are merely making an effort to recoup some of the things we are already losing daily.
If Red Way is able to establish itself in the state capital of Nebraska, only time will tell.
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