XNA tops 1 million enplanements, 2024 numbers up 14% from 2023

Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) in Highfill expects to exceed 2023 enplanements – people flying out of the airport – by about 14% in 2024, officials said. Through November, XNA surpassed 1 million enplanements for the year.

On Tuesday (Dec. 17), XNA CEO Aaron Burkes provided the Board of Directors with an enplanements forecast for the remainder of the year. December enplanements are expected to be posted in January, but Burkes said that security checkpoint throughput reflects continued growth. The projection was that December enplanements would exceed December 2023 by 10%.

“We are just having a stellar year,” said Burkes, adding that the December projection is conservative. “We’re actually up far more than 10% on our throughput. … We’re up 28% in throughput for … the first 15 days of December. … But even on these projections, we’ll be up 14.3% for the year, year-over-year. So, really surprisingly good numbers… Honestly, it just seems to be accelerating. We thought it might slow down here a little bit, but we’re not seeing it yet.”

Through November, enplanements increased by 14.6% to 1.04 million from 912,379 in the same period in 2023. Enplanements for 2023 were 991,489, the highest annual amount before 2024.

He said XNA has 26 nonstop destinations and six carriers. Four routes are seasonal, and two have yet to begin. XNA offers flights to 22 cities and 26 airports. By comparison, Tulsa International Airport has flights to 19 cities and 23 airports. XNA has about 10 daily flights between Dallas and Northwest Arkansas, Burkes said. He noted that Frontier Airlines is expected to reduce capacity for flights between XNA and Denver starting this spring.

Burkes said XNA’s enplanements surpassed Clinton National Airport’s for the first time in September. In September, enplanements at XNA, the state’s second-largest commercial airport, jumped by 20.06% to 101,840 from 84,824 in the same month last year. Enplanements at Clinton National, the state’s largest commercial airport, rose by 1.19% to 97,820 from 96,673 over the same period.

XNA also exceeded Clinton National’s enplanements in October and November. XNA’s enplanements rose 22.57% to 110,456 in October from 90,115 in the same month last year. November enplanements increased 16.4% to 99,564 from 85,522 in the same month last year. At Clinton National, October enplanements rose 5.48% to 105,978 from 102,007. Its November enplanements declined by 2.83% to 94,537 from 97,295.

From January to November, Clinton National’s enplanements rose by 4.7% to 1.07 million from 1.02 million in the same period in 2023. Burkes said XNA likely will exceed Clinton National’s annual enplanements in two or three years.

“It’s conceivable that we could actually have higher enplanements than them next year,” he said. “It would be close but certainly within the next two or three years.”

Between January and November, enplanements at Fort Smith Regional Airport, the state’s third-largest commercial airport, rose by 1.3% to 56,430 from 55,691 in the same period in 2023.

Burkes said airfares at XNA continue to narrow, and the average roundtrip flight is about $20 higher at XNA than at all peer airports. As of the second quarter of 2024, the most recent data available, the average airfare for a roundtrip flight is $470, compared to $432 at Tulsa International Airport and $460 at Clinton National.

In other business, XNA Board of Directors approved negotiating a contract with developer Petro Plus to build and operate a 4,625-square-foot convenience store with 16 pumps on airport property at Airport Boulevard and Regional Avenue. Petro Plus is a joint venture between Coulson Oil Co. and Shell Oil Co.

Following are other items the board approved Tuesday.
• A $1.48 million contract with Hight Jackson to design a 50,525-square-foot project to expand the western concourse and add seven gates. XNA would have 21 gates when completed. Construction is slated to start in mid-2026 and be completed in early 2028.

• A 5% salary increase for Burkes, from $274,977.61 to $288,726.49.

• A $516,447 contract for Nabholz to build a gallery for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The gallery will be located within the terminal past the security checkpoint.

Following board members’ terms end at the end of this year: Mervin Jebaraj, Phil Phillips and John Tanner. Howard Kerr is board chair, Jerry Walton is vice chair and Mike Johnson is secretary. Board member Martine Downs Pollard will replace Jebaraj as treasurer in 2025.