Fort Smith enplanements continue to drop

Enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport were down 11.3% in April, and are down almost 14% for the year.

April saw 6,408 boardings out of Fort Smith, compared to 7,228 in April 2008, according to figures published by the airport. For the year (January through April), enplanements total 24,336, down 13.9% from the 28,336 in the same period of 2008.

Airport Director John Parker has been on record saying 2009 will be a tough year because of the slow national economy and airlines cutting capacity (reducing seats) from their systems.

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.

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.