Traffic up 1.3% at Fort Smith Regional Airport through November

Enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport between January and November totaled 56,430, up 1.3% compared with traffic in the same period of 2023. November traffic was down almost 7% compared with November 2023.

November enplanements totaled 4,548, down 6.6% compared with 4,870 in November 2023. The peak for 2024 monthly traffic at the regional airport was 5,766 in July.

Airport Director Michael Griffin said he and airport staff continue to lobby airlines for more flights and more routes. He also continues to encourage people in the Fort Smith metro to keep the airport in mind for business and leisure travel.

“All I can ask is that people keep Fort Smith in their search when they are pricing (tickets). Give us a look at least. You might find that we’ve got the cheaper ticket, or for just a little more, you can save yourself a lot of travel time (to an airport),” Griffin said.

The airport had 60,669 enplanements in 2023, down 1.7% compared with 2022. The decline followed two years of gains after 2020 in which the COVID-19 pandemic saw annual traffic fall to 38,660 enplanements.

American Airlines, the only carrier active at Fort Smith, had four to five flights a day in 2021 but has reduced its schedule to three flights a day. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines stopped its direct service to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in July 2020.

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 help recruit more flights and add new markets.

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 Fort Smith 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