Fort Smith enplanements down through July

Traffic at the Fort Smith Regional Airport began the year on a positive note but is now struggling to stay ahead of 2010 figures.

For the first seven months of 2011, enplanements at the airport total 49,221, down from the 49,320 in the 2010 period. Enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 18,674 for the first quarter of 2011, up 6.7% compared to the same period in 2010.

July enplanements totaled 8,215, almost flat compared to the 8,221 in July 2010. American Airlines reported 4,955 enplanements in July, up 3.25% compared to July 2010. Delta had 3,260 enplanements out of Fort Smith, down from the 3,422 in July 2010.

However, for the year, Delta has seen enplanement gains in Fort Smith and American is down. Delta, flying passengers to and from its Memphis hub, has 20,571 Fort Smith enplanements between January and July, up 15.7% compared to the 2010 period. American has 28,650 enplanements in the seven-month period, down 9.17%.

“This can be due to various factors like price and customer choice,” Fort Smith Airport Director John Parker said about enplanement shifts between the two airlines serving the airport. “An example may be that the Department of Defense has moved a large number of troops to Fort Chaffee for training and those may have been predominately on one airline which could change numbers from the year prior when that movement did not occur. Again that was just an example and not something we have data to support.”

Enplanements at the airport totaled 86,129 during 2010, up 9.81% over 2009 — an increase that ended two consecutive years of enplanement declines at the airport. Enplanements in 2009 at the Fort Smith airport totaled 78,432, down 9.8% from the 87,030 enplanements in 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 2009 traffic total was the lowest at the airport in the past 10 years.

Year-to-date, Delta reports 22.433 million passengers in its global system, up 1% compared to the 2010 period.

American Eagle reported 11.494 million passenger boardings during the first seven months of 2011, up 5.9% compared to the 2010 period. The airline had 1.857 million passengers in July, up 9.3% compared to July 2010.

ARKANSAS TRAFFIC
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) is on track to best its 2010 traffic. During the first half of 2011 the airport reports 284,505 enplanements, up 3.98% compared to the 273,589 in the 2010 period. During 2010, XNA had 570,625 enplanements, up 5.49% over 2009.

Enplanements are down at the Little Rock National Airport. During the first half of 2011, enplanements totaled 528,867, down 3.68%. In 2010, the airport had 1.129 million enplanements, down 3.8% compared to 2009, and down 5.3% from 2008.