First quarter Fort Smith Regional Airport traffic down almost 2%

March traffic out of the Fort Smith Regional Airport was up slightly compared with March 2024, but traffic numbers for the first quarter of the year are down almost 2% compared with the same period in 2024.

Airport enplanements in March totaled 4,980, up 0.5% compared with 4,956 in March 2024. Enplanements in the first quarter of the year (January-March) total 13,434, down 1.8% compared with 13,682 in the same period of 2024.

The first quarter decline is thanks to a big drop in February primary related to winter weather conditions nationwide. The February tally of 4,174 enplanements at Fort Smith was down 11.5% compared to 4,714 in February 2024. January 2025 traffic was up 6.7% compared with January 2024.

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 set in 1975.

American Airlines 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.

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