Fort Smith airport traffic up in 2024, still well below pre-pandemic numbers

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 120 views 

Traffic at the Fort Smith Regional Airport increased in 2024 compared with 2023, but the numbers are still well below pre-pandemic trends. Traffic at the airport also fell more than 3% in the final quarter of the year.

Enplanements at the airport in 2024 totaled 61,409, up 1.2% compared with the 60,669 enplanements in 2023. The 2024 tally is down 35.8% compared with 2019 when those traveling out of the airport totaled 95,670. Enplanements fell to 38,660 in 2020.

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 and was set in 1975.

December enplanements totaled 4,979, essentially unchanged compared with the 4,978 in December 2023. The peak for 2024 monthly traffic at the regional airport was 5,766 in July.

Traffic at the airport was robust to begin 2024, with numbers up 7.6% in the first four months of the year. The year-to-date traffic numbers were up 3.4% at the end of July. However, enplanements in the fourth quarter (October-December) totaled 15,014, down 3.3% compared with the 15,519 in the same period of 2023.

Airport Director Michael Griffin has said in recent interviews that airport staff continue to work with consultants to convince airlines to provide more routes. 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.

Enplanements at the Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) were up 15.78% in 2024 to 1.14 million. The Clinton National Airport in Little Rock has not yet posted 2024 totals, but totals through November were up 4.7%.

Following are the previous 11 years of Fort Smith enplanement totals.
2024: 61,409
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