Traffic at Fort Smith Regional Airport dips 12.2% in 2008
by January 9, 2009 3:43 pm 65 views
Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2 percent from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007. The 2008 traffic total is the lowest at the airport in the past 10 years.
December passenger traffic at the Fort Smith Regional Airport fell 17.6 percent compared to December 2007. This follows a 26.3 percent decline in November traffic and a 20.5 percent decline in October traffic.
According to airport information, 6,743 people enplaned at the airport in December.
For the year, 80,287 have flown out of the airport, an almost 12 percent decline compared to the same period in 2007.
The highest annual enplanement total at the airport in the past 10 years was in 1998, with 109,034. That figure dropped to 87,944 in 2002. Total paid enplanements in 2007 improved to 99,127.
“The economy is behind the decline,” Airport Director John Parker said, explaining that enplanement declines are “normal across the board” in the commercial aviation sector.
The Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) posted a decline in annual enplanements for the first time in its operational history. Enplanements at XNA in 2008 totaled 571,845, down 4.5 percent from the 2007 total of 598,886, according to figures from the airport’s Web site.
American operates five flights a day — all connecting to Dallas-Fort Worth — out of Fort Smith. Northwest has three flights a day to Memphis, and Delta has one flight a day to Atlanta.
Delta and Northwest have merged, but continue to operate as separate airlines. That is expected to soon end, and Parker said it is unclear how the completion of the merger will change the flights to Memphis and Atlanta.