2009 Fort Smith enplanements drop 9.8%

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by The City Wire staff ([email protected]) January 7, 2010 1:11 pm 59 views 

Not since 1986 have so few people flown out of the Fort Smith Regional Airport.

Enplanements in 2009 at the airport totaled 78,432, down 9.8% from the 87,030 enplanements in 2008. December enplanements at the airport totaled 5,887, down 12.6% compared to December 2008, according to figures published by the airport.

In 1986 the airport posted 65,555 enplanements.

The December figures ended a trend of improving year-over-year percentage declines. Enplanements for the first nine months of the year were down 9.8%; down 10% for the first eight months; and were down 11.1% for the first six months of the year.

American Eagle — the primary commercial airline operating out of Fort Smith — reported that its December boardings were 1.296 million, up 7.8% from December 2008. For the year, the regional airline reports boardings of 16.012 million, down 3.3% compared to the same period of 2008.

Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2% from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007.

The Fort Smith Regional Airport lost in June its direct Delta connection to the Atlanta airport. The loss is a result of the acquisition of Northwest Airlines by Delta. American Eagle Airlines operates five flights a day — all connecting to Dallas-Fort Worth — out of Fort Smith. Delta/Northwest has three flights a day to Memphis.

NATIONAL TRENDS
It’s likely the Fort Smith airport enplanement decline will be greater than the nationwide experience. The Department of Transportation reported that revenue passenger enplanements for the 12 months ended September 2009 was 709.59 million, down 7.2% from the 12-month period ended September 2008.

A distressed economy and high 2008 fuel costs for the airlines have conspired to decrease the number of passengers.

John Heimlich, president and chief economist for the Air Transport Association, noted in a recent 2010 airline industry report that it’s been a tough decade for the industry.

“And once the final tally is in for full-year 2009, U.S. airlines will have amassed some $60 billion in net losses and shed 160,000 jobs over the first nine years of this decade,” Heimlich said.

As for 2010, Heimlich is not overly optimistic, noting that “the industry has a long way to go, and while there are numerous reasons that 2010 might indeed bring better times for the airlines, it is important to remember that ‘better than 2009 is not saying a whole lot’ in the grand scheme.”