Fort Smith Regional Airport traffic ticks higher in the first quarter

March enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport were below that of March 2025, with airport traffic in the first quarter of 2026 slightly above that in the same period of 2025.

Enplanements at the airport totaled 13,491 in the first quarter of 2026, up 0.4% compared with 13,434 in the same period of 2025. Traffic was up 1.9% in January and up 2.75% in February. March enplanements totaled 4,840, up 12.8% compared with February but down 2.8% compared with March 2025.

Fort Smith Regional Airport Director Andrew Meyer said the airport is seeing a bump in passenger activity out of the winter months.

“(Fort Smith) recorded 4,840 enplanements in March, reflecting a rebound from the winter months as travel demand begins to pick up,” he said. “We’re encouraged to see both passenger activity and load factors trending upward, which points toward a healthy and consistent demand for air service.”

Meyer has said American Airlines plans to add a fourth flight during the summer beginning in late May. He said talks with airlines continue in the effort to add more routes and more carriers.

Enplanements at the airport in 2025 totaled 62,369, up 1.56% compared with 61,409 in 2024 and better than 60,669 enplanements in 2023. Fort Smith enplanements were on a growth trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2025 tally is down 34.8% compared with 2019 when those traveling out of the airport totaled 95,670. Enplanements fell to 38,660 in 2020.

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 around three flights a day to Dallas-Fort Worth. 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.
2025: 62,369
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