Fort Smith airport traffic up 7% in first two months of 2024

Fort Smith Regional Airport traffic is up in the first two months of 2024, reversing a traffic trend that saw enplanements dip almost 2% in 2023. It’s a trend improvement Airport Director Michael Griffin needs in the effort to add flights and routes at the airport.

There were 8,728 enplanements out of the airport in January and February, up 7% compared to the 8,159 in the same period of 2023. The airport ended 2023 with 60,669 enplanements, down 1.7% compared with 2022.

Griffin said he is optimistic the traffic gains will continue in 2023.

“I know that the numbers are up and that’s really encouraging. More people are using our airport, we see that, and it continues to grow. … We’re hoping to keep that (growth) going in the rest of the year,” Griffin said.

Airport officials and consultants continue to work with airlines to add new routes and flights. American Airlines, the only carrier active at Fort Smith, had four to five flights a day in 2021 but has reduced its schedule to two or three flights a day. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines stopped its Fort Smith flights in July 2020 and has yet to restart the direct service to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The airport received a $1.145 million grant in August 2022 from the Small Community Air Service Development Program of the Federal Aviation Administration to recruit a route to Chicago or another northeastern market. The grant is good for 10 years. The airport contracted with Middleton, Wisc.-based Mead & Hunt to assist in the effort.

Part of that effort includes a recent airline use survey of businesses in the Fort Smith metro. Griffin said the survey has more than 220 responses and they plan to use survey info to better focus its airline recruitment strategy.

“The survey helps the airport build it’s business case when we go to an airline seeking more routes. What we hear from them (businesses) really helps better tell the story of what the businesses do and what they need,” Griffin said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. enplanements were down 3.9% in January – the latest data available – compared with January 2023.

Fort Smith enplanements were on a growth trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time 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 enplanement totals.
2023: 60,669
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