January-February enplanements up at Fort Smith and XNA, flat in Little Rock

Traffic out of the Fort Smith Regional Airport is off to a good start in 2017, with numbers up almost 14% year-to-date and building upon a 2016 that saw marginal enplanement growth over 2015.

Enplanements – or outbound passengers – at Fort Smith Regional Airport, the state’s third-largest airport, totaled  12,708 in January and February, up 13.74% from the same two-month period in 2016. February enplanements totaled 6,317, up 11.3% from 5,672 enplanements in February 2016.

Fort Smith enplanements were 87,488 in 2016, up only marginally compared to 86,704 enplanements in 2015. Fort Smith’s 2015 enplanement totals were down 7.1% compared to 2014. The 2014 traffic was 92,869, the first time the airport had topped the 90,000 mark since 2007.

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) in Highfill, the second-largest airport in the state, totaled 91,742 in January-May, up 6.03% from 86,518 in the year-ago period. February enplanements totaled 45,455, up 4.9% from 43,334 enplanements in February 2016.

Enplanements at XNA totaled a record 669,487 last year, up 3.39% from the previous record of 647,530 enplanements in 2015. 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.

Enplanements at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock were essentially flat, rising slightly from 135,991 in January-February in 2016 to 136,216 in the same period this year. February enplanements actually dropped at Clinton National Airport, from 68,027 a year ago to 66,469 this year.
Enplanements at the Clinton National Airport in Little Rock were up 0.42% to 996,897 last year. That’s compared to 992,712 enplanements in 2015. The last two years are the first two years since 1991 that enplanements at the state’s largest airport have been below 1 million.

Enplanements on all U.S. carriers (including domestic and international traffic) totaled 68.68 million in December, up 0.98% compared to 68.01 million in December 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. (December data was the most recent available as of March 24.) In the 12-month period that ended in December 2016, enplanements for all U.S. carriers reached an all-time high of 719.0 million, up 3.3% compared to the December 2014-December 2015 period.

ENPLANEMENT HISTORY
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (Little Rock)
Through February 2017: 136,216
Through February 2016: 135,991
Up: 0.17%

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport
Through February 2017: 91,742
Through February 2016: 86,518
Up: 6.03%

Fort Smith Regional Airport
Through February 2017: 12,708
Through February 2016: 11,172
Up 13.74%

ENPLANEMENT HISTORY (Clinton National Airport-Little Rock)
2016: 996,897
2015: 992,712
2014: 1.038 million
2013: 1.085 million
2012: 1.147 million
2011: 1.103 million
2010: 1.124 million

ENPLANEMENT HISTORY (Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport)
2016: 669,487
2015: 647,530
2014: 640,537
2013: 581,487
2012: 565,045
2011: 562,747
2010: 570,625

ENPLANEMENT HISTORY (Fort Smith Regional Airport)
2016: 87,488
2015: 86,704
2014: 92,869
2013: 84,520
2012: 86,653
2011: 86,234
2010: 86,129