Fort Smith airport traffic on pace to top 2024

Barring a dismal December, enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport are on track to top the 2024 numbers that were slightly better than the 2023 numbers. The airport also will have a new director of operations in January.

November enplanements totaled 4,674, up 2.8% compared with 4,548 in November 2024, according to airport information. Enplanements between January and November total 57,358, up 1.6% compared with the same period in 2024.

“Passenger activity tends to level out this time of year, and our numbers continue to reflect a healthy, consistent demand for air travel,” said Airport Director Andrew Meyer. “We appreciate the community’s continued support as we head into this holiday season.”

The year-to-date gain is largely courtesy of a rise in traffic during the third quarter (July-September). Traffic in the quarter totaled 17,757, up 7.45% compared with the 16,525 in the same period of 2024. Traffic in the first two months of the fourth quarter total 10,162, up 1.3% compared with the same period in 2024.

Meyer also said that Reginald Evans has been hired as director of operations and will begin in January. Evans succeeds Meyer who began as airport director on Sept. 24.

“Reginald, who is joining us from Northwest Arkansas National Airport, brings a strong background in airport operations, and we look forward to welcoming him to the team in the coming weeks,” Meyer said.

Evans, an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, has worked at XNA for almost three years. He also worked at the Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport in Bullhead, Ariz., for almost three years prior to being at XNA. He has a bachelor’s degree in aviation-airway management and operations from Henderson State University.

AIRPORT HISTORY
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 10 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