The airport is located northeast of downtown Omaha in east Omaha. Although the airport is in Nebraska and on the west side of the Missouri River, through a geographic oddity it is surrounded on the east, west and south by the state of Iowa: the Missouri River formerly formed an oxbow immediately west of the land that became Eppley Airfield.

The river cut off the oxbow during an 1877 flood, leaving behind Carter Lake on a portion of its former course; the Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that though the land cut off by the river's changed route now lay west of the Missouri, it remained part of Iowa. This land eventually became the city of Carter Lake, Iowa.

People driving from downtown Omaha must go through a small section of Iowa to reach the airport. The main road connecting the airport to downtown is Abbott Drive; just south of the airport, Abbott Drive is signed as Iowa Highway 165 for 0.5 miles in Carter Lake.

In Iowa, Abbott Drive is maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation and has Iowa welcome signs on either side; in Nebraska, Abbott Drive in Nebraska is an Omaha city street and has no Nebraska welcome signs (which would be provided by the state). Travelers coming from the north from north Omaha and the north shore of Carter Lake in East Omaha can access the airport by staying in Nebraska the entire time. Eppley Airfield (IATA: OMA, ICAO: KOMA, FAA LID: OMA) is a commercial airport located three miles (5 km) northeast of the central business district of Omaha, a city in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States. It is the largest airport in the state of Nebraska. In addition to the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, Eppley Airfield serves communities throughout eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, northern Kansas, Missouri, and South Dakota. The airport is currently a focus city for Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines.

The airport is named for Eugene C. Eppley, the Omaha Eppley Hotel magnate, from whose estate $1 million was used to convert the Omaha Municipal Airport into a jet port in 1959/1960.[3]

The airport occupies 2,650 acres and handles about 397 flights a week. The airport has two concourses consisting of 21 gates. As of November 2007, all regularly-scheduled flights from Eppley Airfield terminate within the United States. The airport handled more than 4.4 million passengers in 2007, and as of December 2007, Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier, handling approximately 23 percent of passengers; United Airlines is the second-largest carrier, handling approximately 20 percent of passengers.

The airport is located northeast of downtown Omaha in east Omaha. Although the airport is in Nebraska and on the west side of the Missouri River, through a geographic oddity it is surrounded on the east, west and south by the state of Iowa: the Missouri River formerly formed an oxbow immediately west of the land that became Eppley Airfield. The river cut off the oxbow during an 1877 flood, leaving behind Carter Lake on a portion of its former course; the Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that though the land cut off by the river's changed route now lay west of the Missouri, it remained part of Iowa. This land eventually became the city of Carter Lake, Iowa.

People driving from downtown Omaha must go through a small section of Iowa to reach the airport. The main road connecting the airport to downtown is Abbott Drive; just south of the airport, Abbott Drive is signed as Iowa Highway 165 for 0.5 miles in Carter Lake. In Iowa, Abbott Drive is maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation and has Iowa welcome signs on either side; in Nebraska, Abbott Drive in Nebraska is an Omaha city street and has no Nebraska welcome signs (which would be provided by the state). Travelers coming from the north from north Omaha and the north shore of Carter Lake in East Omaha can access the airport by staying in Nebraska the entire time.

On 6 August 1966 Braniff Airways Flight 250 left Kansas City Downtown Airport headed for Eppley and crashed near Falls City, Nebraska killing all 42 on board. The flight was waiting for weather to clear in Omaha before descending when violent turbulence compromised the structural integrity of the plane.