OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — With the World Cup's first matches kicking off Thursday June 11, Omaha-based private aviation company Jet Linx is seeing a surge in travel demand.
The company teamed up with Union Omaha forward Diego Gutierrez, who took to the runway to show off his skills for a social media promo.
"I think this is going to be a huge opportunity just for soccer to grow here in North America especially in the US," Gutierrez said.
I spoke with Ashley Allisma, regional vice president at Jet Linx, ahead of Jet Linx's 10th Annual Safety Summit. In spite of the high volume of flights this time of year, the company makes it a priority to ground all flights for a day to train personnel and discuss methods to increase safety on flights.
Over the course of that decade, Allisma tells me that mental health awareness has been an increasing focus, as speakers from outside aircraft operators give advice for handling serious and potentially dangerous situations.
The company tells me it believes the summits contribute to over 200 miles flown over the last 27 years without a recorded safety incident.
Allisma said the World Cup is driving a wave of new bookings across the country.
"Yeah we've got a lot of people putting together flights with friends family even business flights that are going out to various parts of the country to go to a game," Allisma said.
I'm told the tournament is expected to generate an estimated $275 million for the private aviation industry.
But with fuel costs top of mind in 2026, Allisma said some airports near World Cup host cities are adding thousands of dollars in special event refueling fees. It's the company's job to negotiate these prices, which Allisma tells me can range from $2,000 to $10,000, as well as advising customers on how to avoid those extra costs.
"Maybe Love Field isn't the best airport to go to based on this game, might we suggest this airport that might be 30 to 45 minutes away? They don't have any special event fees," Allisma said.
Allisma also noted that other sporting events like Nebraska reaching the Elite 8 during the NCAA March Madness Men's bracket generate revenue. This year almost 20 Jet Linx flights took off from Omaha for The Masters.
With large crowds expected at matches across North America, Jet Linx says helping travelers get to games as smoothly as possible is the priority.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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