Enplanements up at Arkansas airports through October

Enplanements at Arkansas’ three largest commercially-served airports are up for the year, with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport on a path to avoid two consecutive years of enplanement declines.

The gains for the three airports may hold through the year if Thanksgiving travel forecasts hold to be true. Airlines for America (A4A), the U.S. airline industry trade association, forecasted that nearly 24 million passengers will fly during the 2012 Thanksgiving holiday season. The prediction is just a slight increase over the 2011 season.

The A4A report said that the travelers with be on “planes that are expected to be full, as carriers continue to more closely match available seats to demand in an effort to offset what are expected to be record annual fuel costs.”

Planes are expected to be close to 90% full on the busiest traveling days, which are expected to be Sunday, Nov. 25 (2.4 million passengers), Wednesday, Nov. 21 (2.3 million passengers) and Monday, Nov. 26 (2.3 million passengers).

XNA ENPLANEMENTS
October enplanements at XNA totaled 52,044, up 8.94% compared to October 2011, and the third consecutive year-over-year increase. For the first 10 months of 2012, enplanements at XNA total 476,333, up 0.68% compared to the same period in 2011.

Enplanements at XNA totaled 562,747 during 2011, down 1.38% compared to 2010. During 2010, XNA had 570,625 enplanements, up 5.49% over 2009. XNA’s first full year of traffic was 1999, and the airport posted eight consecutive years of enplanement gains before seeing a decline in 2008.

American Airlines, the largest carrier at XNA, continues to see traffic out of XNA decline as the carrier struggles through the bankruptcy process.

American posted 19,976 enplanements out of XNA during October, below the 21,148 in October 2011. For the year, American and American Eagle have combined for 191,622 enplanements, or just over 40% of traffic out of the airport.

FORT SMITH TRAFFIC
October enplanements at Fort Smith totaled 7,637, down 2.5% compared to October 2011. For the first 10 months of 2012, enplanements at Fort Smith total 73,037, ahead of the 71,465 in the same period of 2011.

As with XNA, American Airlines is the most active carrier at Fort Smith. The airline has 42,731 enplanements out of Fort Smith for the first 10 months of 2012, up over 41,815 during the 2011 period. American enplanements during October totaled 4,431, down 1.6% compared to October 2011.

Delta has 30,306 enplanements out of Fort Smith for the first 10 months, ahead of the 29,650 during the 2011 period.

Enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport during 2011 eked out a 0.12% gain over 2010, marking two consecutive years of enplanement growth at the airport. For the year, the airport posted 86,234 enplanements compared to 86,129 during 2010.

LITTLE ROCK
Enplanements at the Bill & Hillary Clinton Airport (Little Rock National Airport), total 965,805 for the first 10 months of 2012, up 5.29% compared to the 2011 period.

October enplanements at the airport were 99,426, up 2.42% compared to October 2011.

Barring significant traffic declines in November and December, 2012 could mark the end of five consecutive years of enplanement declines at the Little Rock airport. Enplanements at Little Rock National during 2011 totaled 1.103 million, down 1.92% compared to the 2010 period.

American enplanements at Little Rock were up 0.47% in October, and are up 6.5% during the first 10 months of 2012.