Fort Smith Regional Airport traffic down 57% through July

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to reduce airline traffic with July enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaling 2,957, down 67.3% compared with July 2019. Delta flights had the biggest decline at 94.4%.

American Airline enplanements in July totaled 2,830, down 58% compared with July 2019. Delta reported just 127 enplanements during July, down 94.4% from July 2019.

During the first seven months of the year, enplanements totaled 23,129, down 57% from the same period in 2019. Year-to-date American Airline enplanements out of Fort Smith total 17,389, down 54.4% from the 38,160 in the same period of 2019. Delta enplanements for the first seven months are 5,740, down 63.3% from the 15,654 in the same period of 2019.

The Fort Smith airport is not an exception. Enplanements for the first six months out of the Northwest Arkansas National Airport – the most recent data available – was down 54.6% compared with the same period in 2019. June enplanements at XNA were down 81.7%.

Enplanements for the first six months out of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport – the most recent data available – in Little Rock is down 55.29%, and enplanements during June were down 75.2%.

ENPLANEMENT HISTORY
2019 enplanements out of the Fort Smith Regional Airport – Arkansas’ third largest commercial field – totaled 95,670, up 5.7% from the 90,501 in 2018. December enplanements totaled 8,277, up 4.17% from the 7,945 in December 2018.

American traffic is responsible for all the gains at Fort Smith in 2019. The airline had 69,096 enplanements out of Fort Smith in 2019, up 10.1% compared with the airline’s 2018 traffic. Delta posted 26,574 enplanements, down from 27,763 in 2018.

Enplanements at the airport in 2019 were up for the fourth straight year. Following are the previous six years of enplanement totals.
2019: 95,670
2018: 90,501
2017: 89,582
2016: 87,488
2015: 86,704
2014: 92,869