XNA to top 100K enplanements for first time in June, officials say

Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) in Highfill continues to post record enplanement growth this year, and CEO Aaron Burkes has yet to see any signs of this slowing.

On Tuesday (June 4), Burkes told the XNA Board of Directors that June will likely be the airport’s first month with more than 100,000 enplanements, which comprise passengers flying from the airport.

Burkes noted that May is likely to be just short of the mark. But June, July and October will likely exceed the 100,000 mark. June and July are typically peak months for leisure travel. October is a peak month for business travel.

In 2023, XNA reported record enplanement numbers, exceeding the previous record in 2019. Last year, enplanements were 991,489, up 7.5% from 922,533 in 2019.

From January to April, enplanements have risen by 11.3% to 317,191 from 284,909 in the same period in 2023. In April, enplanements rose by 14.5% to 89,524 from 78,155 in the same month in 2023.

“With the exception of March, we’ve had double-digit increases over 2023,” he said. “I’m not saying that we could use this for a prediction, but if you were to extrapolate out and you have an 11.3% increase for the rest of the year, we would be at 1.1 million enplanements for the year.”

Burkes said that XNA has already exceeded 1 million enplanements over the past 12 months, with 1.02 million enplanements from May 2023 to April 2024.

“We’re comfortably over the 1 million mark as of right now,” he said. “We’re not seeing any let up at all in terms of the strength of the market.”

However, he said the airline industry is facing challenges, but the outlook is great for XNA and the immediate future. He added that the number of people who go through the security checkpoint aligns with enplanement numbers. The number of people who went through the security checkpoint was up 11% in May, and he expects this will be reflected in the May enplanement numbers. He said the May enplanement numbers should become available in the next week or so.

By date, the largest numbers of people going through security were on June 2, 2023, at 5,025 and June 3, 2023, at 4,982. He attributed the numbers to people flying out after the Walmart shareholders meeting. And he expects strong numbers this weekend after the meeting ends this year.

“This (June) could be the first month over 100,000 enplanements,” said chief operating officer Andrew Branch, adding that XNA exceeded 97,000 enplanements in June 2023.

Burkes also noted the challenges in the airline industry, including record expenses. Globally, the industry is expecting record revenue of $996 billion and profit of $30.5 billion this year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

He said the low-cost carriers are struggling and losing money. But some legacy carriers, such as Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, have been gaining market share.

“Business travel seems to be back,” he said. “The legacy carriers are all saying that they’re seeing a real strength in business travel again. This is really the first year that they’re all saying that we’re in good shape on business travel. And we’re certainly seeing that.”

Following the pandemic, leisure travel accelerated more quickly than business travel. Then, Burkes said Allegiant Air looked to become XNA’s third-largest carrier, but that “trend has definitely reversed course.” He added that passenger growth continues in the low-cost carrier market, but it’s not rising as fast as passenger numbers are rising in the legacy carrier market.

Burkes also compared some key metrics of XNA and Clinton National Airport in Little Rock. He said in the coming months XNA will have the same number of seats in the market as Clinton National Airport for the first time. Clinton National Airport has previously had more seats in the market than XNA, he said.

Comparing enplanements, Clinton National Airport has 5.5% more enplanements than XNA so far this year, he said. Between January and April, enplanements at Clinton National Airport increased by 6.4% to 334,575 from 314,304 in the same period in 2023. In April, enplanements rose by 11.7% to 95,139 from 85,136.

Burkes explained that the enplanement gap has closed over the past few years to the “narrowest that we’ve seen. Last year, it was a 13% difference. It’s 22% different the year before and 36% the year before that.”

He noted that “this will diverge a little bit” as the Little Rock airport comprises a more traditional traveler mix and should see a summer travel boost that exceeds XNA’s numbers.

Clinton National Airport and XNA comprise the first- and second-largest commercial airports in Arkansas, respectively. The third-largest commercial airport is Fort Smith Regional Airport. Between January and April, enplanements increased by 7.6% to 18,745 from 17,417 in the same period last year. In April, enplanements rose by 4.9% to 5,063 from 4,824 in the same month in 2023.