Fort Smith enplanements drop 18% in February
by March 9, 2009 10:37 am 62 views
The only good news about the double-digit declines in February enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport is that the decline wasn’t as steep as the January decline.
February enplanements at the airport totaled 5,525, down 18.1% compared to February 2008. January enplanements dipped 20.9% compared to January 2008.
Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2 percent from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007. The 2008 traffic total is the lowest at the airport in the past 10 years.
Enplanement declines at Fort Smith are greater than those seen systemwide at American Eagle Airlines, the dominant provider of service in Fort Smith. In February, American Eagle reported 1.26 million passengers, down 13.7% compared to February 2008.
On a combined basis, system traffic for Delta and Northwest in February 2009 fell 11% compared to February 2008.
American operates five flights a day — all connecting to Dallas-Fort Worth — out of Fort Smith. Northwest has three flights a day to Memphis, and Delta has one flight a day to Atlanta.