Fort Smith enplanements below 2010 pace

Traffic at the Fort Smith Regional Airport continues to track just below the year-to-date numbers of 2010.

September enplanements at the airport totaled 7,335, just below the 7,340 during September 2010. For the first nine months of 2011, enplanements at the airport total 63,630, down slightly from the 63,711 in the 2010 period. Activity at the airport was improving during the first of the year, with enplanements totaling 18,674 for the first quarter of 2011, up 6.7% compared to the same period in 2010.

American Airlines reported 4,464 enplanements in September, down compared to the 4,504 during September 2010. Delta had 2,871 enplanements out of Fort Smith, up from the 2,836 in September 2010.

For the year, Delta has seen enplanement gains in Fort Smith and American is down. Delta, flying passengers to and from its Memphis hub, has 26,319 Fort Smith enplanements between January and September, up 11.86% compared to the 2010 period. American has 37,311 enplanements in the nine-month period, down 7.14%.

Enplanements at the airport totaled 86,129 during 2010, up 9.81% over 2009 — an increase that ended two consecutive years of enplanement declines at the airport. Enplanements in 2009 at the Fort Smith airport totaled 78,432, down 9.8% from the 87,030 enplanements in 2008. Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2% from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007. The 2009 traffic total was the lowest at the airport in the past 10 years.

Year-to-date, Delta reports 18.387 million passengers in its regional system, down 2.1% compared to the 2010 period.

American Eagle reported 12.902 million passenger boardings during the first nine months of 2011, up 7.3% compared to the 2010 period. The airline had 1.476 million passengers in September, up 7.4% compared to September 2010.

ARKANSAS TRAFFIC
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) continues to see enplanement gains. During the first eight months of 2011 the airport reports 381,225 enplanements, up 1.47% compared to the 273,589 in the 2010 period. During 2010, XNA had 570,625 enplanements, up 5.49% over 2009. (XNA has not posted September enplanements as of Oct. 7.)

Enplanements are down at the Little Rock National Airport. During the first seven months of 2011, enplanements totaled 635,564, down 3.15% (The airport did not have August data as of Sept. 22). In 2010, the airport had 1.129 million enplanements, down 3.8% compared to 2009, and down 5.3% from 2008. (The airport has not posted August or September enplanements as of Oct. 7.)

Of the top 100 airports in the U.S., travel between June 2010 and July 2011 totaled 734.716 million, up 2.95% compared to the same 2009-2010 period.