Fort Smith airport traffic declines through July; runway work to be complete in September

Fort Smith Regional Airport enplanements totaled 34,456 between January and July, down 2.7% compared with the same period in 2022. Reduced flight frequency by American Airlines is one reason for the decline, according to Airport Director Michael Griffin.

American Airlines, the only carrier active at Fort Smith, removed the 50-seat regional jet from its Fort Smith route and replaced it with the 76-seat E-175 regional jet, Griffin said. While the bigger jet is more attractive to customers, it came with a caveat in Fort Smith.

“The unfortunate result of this was that with the increased capacity, they also decreased the frequency, which is why we only have 3 daily departures. Prior to the summer travel season, they also decreased this frequency a couple of days a week to only two departures,” Griffin told Talk Business & Politics. “Although we have decreased frequency, the positive thing is that we had very strong June and July passenger numbers. I am encouraged by the fact that our numbers are still pointed in the right direction.”

July enplanements totaled 6,294, up 8% compared with July 2022. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, domestic passengers totaled 69.4 million in July, up 4% compared with July 2022.

Overall U.S. airline traffic continues to grow. Passenger numbers for the week ending Aug. 15 totaled 2.265 million, better than the 2.016 million for the same week in 2022 and the 1.607 million for the same week in 2021.

Griffin also said delays in completing installation of the instrument landing system (ILS) on the east end of the runway that has been extended has pushed overall project completion to “sometime in September.”

Construction on a $22 million runway extension began in April 2022 and was initially set for a June completion. The 1,300-foot extension is needed to support the foreign military pilot training center to be located at Ebbing Air National Guard Base at the airport. The base was selected to be the pilot training center supporting F-16 and F-35 fighter planes purchased by countries participating in the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The city of Fort Smith committed $5 million toward the extension and Arkansas contributed $17 million.

The airport reported 61,719 enplanements in 2022, up 30.5% compared with the 47,287 in 2021. The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that U.S. enplanements totaled 853 million in 2022, up 30% compared with 2021, and well above the 388 million in 2020.

Enplanements were on a growth trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time Fort Smith enplanements topped 100,000 was in 2005 with 102,607. The enplanement record is 112,782 set in 1975. Following are the previous 10 years of Fort Smith enplanement totals.
2022: 61,719
2021: 47,287
2020: 38,660
2019: 95,670
2018: 90,501
2017: 89,582
2016: 87,488
2015: 86,704
2014: 92,869