Air Travel Down In Arkansas
by July 3, 2015 8:59 pm 94 views
All three major airports in Arkansas saw fewer travelers in May as compared to May 2014. Only Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport has more travels this year to date than last year.
“Enplanements at XNA totaled 251,389 for the first five months of 2015, up 3.05% compared to the same period in 2014. XNA ended 2014 with 640,537 enplanements, up 10.15% over 2013, and more than the record of 598,886 enplanements in 2007. The 2014 gain also marked the third consecutive year of increased traffic at the airport.
XNA had 57,928 enplanements in May, down just 0.83% compared to May 2014.
The airport is served by five airlines that provide connections to 10 U.S. cities. 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.”
The Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock posted enplanements of 379,831 for the first five months of 2015, down 8.67% compared to the same period in 2015.
May enplanements at Fort Smith totaled 7,688, down 8.15% from May 2014.
NATIONAL TRAFFIC, SUMMER TRAVEL ESTIMATE
Airlines for America, the trade association for most of the major airlines, predicts summer airline travel (June 1 – Aug. 31) will increase 4.6% in the U.S. compared to actual traffic in the 2014 period.
According to the trade group, an estimated 2.4 million people a day will fly on U.S. carriers during the summer period. The group predicted Spring travel would rise to its highest mark in seven years, reaching 132.2 million passengers during May and April.
Official U.S. airline traffic data reported by the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics is updated through March. The latest report, posted June 12, said U.S. enplanements were up 0.9% in March compared to February, and marked a return to pre-recession travel levels.
“March is the first post-recession month among the top 10 all-time highest months for domestic enplanements,” the federal agency reported.
And according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, passenger air transportation activity in the U.S. during the first quarter was up 3.9% after declining 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014. Overall, real spending (economic output) on travel and tourism slowed in the first quarter of 2015 to a 2% pace of growth after posting a revised 4.9% rate in the fourth quarter of 2014.
See the full report on air travel as part of The City Wire’s Compass Report.