Little Rock Airport Enplanements Still Down

While the travel agencies say airline bookings are returning to pre-Sept. 11 levels, that hasn’t translated into increased enplanements at Little Rock National Airport — yet.

The state’s largest airport saw enplanements fall 33.6 percent in September and hasn’t seen a single month show a gain over previous year levels since then. For 2001, air enplanements were down 7.3 percent. So far, in January and February, enplanements are down 14 percent from 2001 figures.

Although travel agency bookings may be up, much of that could be from people buying cheaper tickets now for excursions later in the year.

Deborah H. Schwartz, airport manager, said that before Sept. 11, there were 75 passenger flights a day at the facility. Now there are 61. The number of seats has declined 3,000 a day — from 14,000 a day to 11,000 a day.

That reduction has come from the airlines’ need to cut capacity to adjust to the drastic decline in the number of passengers. As more people begin traveling again, airlines will restore the frequency of some flights and return to using larger aircraft.

Schwartz said Northwest Airlines has added a nonstop flight to Detroit, and she expects it will add yet another flight. She also expects Continental Airlines will add a flight soon.

Enplanements at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport showed 2.1 percent growth over the previous year with nearly 375,000 enplanements.

The airport relies heavily on business travel by companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. — all businesses relatively unaffected by the recession.