Fort Smith airport to lose Delta connection to Atlanta

The Fort Smith Regional Airport is losing in June its direct Delta connection to the Atlanta airport. The loss is a result of the acquisition of Northwest Airlines by Delta.

Presently, American Airlines 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.

On Oct. 29, 2008, Delta completed its purchase of Northwest Airlines to form the world’s largest commercial carrier, and in February 2009, it began consolidating gates and ticket counters at airports where Delta and Northwest operate. That consolidation is expected to be complete around the country by early 2010.

“I wanted to give you a heads up and let you know that we will be discontinuing our (Atlanta to Fort Smith) service effective June. Unfortunately, our (Atlanta) service has struggled, so we have decided to concentrate our service in (Memphis, where performance has been better,” according to a note from Delta to the Fort Smith Regional Airport.

The loss of the flight in June won’t help the Fort Smith airport stop the decline in enplanements. Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2% from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007. The 2008 traffic total is the lowest at the airport in the past 10 years. January-March 2009 enplanements totaled 17,928, down 14.9% compared to the same period in 2008.

“We are certainly disappointed that we don’t have the direct connection into the large hub of Atlanta,” John Parker, director of the Fort Smith Regional Airport, told The City Wire.

Daren Dozier Dallas, owner of Tripp Travel in Fort Smith, said the lost Atlanta connection will make travel plans more difficult for corporate travelers and could raise airfares because of the fewer flights out of Fort Smith.