XNA remains on growth trajectory, names new CFO

Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) in Benton County is exceeding its enplanement expectations this year and has appointed a new chief financial officer. Enplanements comprise passengers flying out.

Tim O’Donnell, chief financial officer, is stepping down after more than seven years in the position. On Monday (June 1), Ashton Collier was promoted to chief financial officer. Collier joined XNA in 2024 as director of accounting before being promoted to controller in January 2025. She has more than 15 years of experience in accounting and financial leadership, including roles with Ernst & Young and Tyson Foods. O’Donnell will serve in an emeritus role to ensure a smooth transition.

During the XNA Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday (June 2), CEO Aaron Burkes said XNA’s enplanements are growing and that the airport received several new flights because of the Walmart shareholder week.

“It’s going really, really well,” he said.

All of XNA’s nonstop flights are operating, aside from one seasonal route to Phoenix. XNA is served by six airlines and offers nonstop flights to 27 destinations. The larger carriers offer at least one daily flight on their routes, but low-cost carriers operate some flights with a frequency of two or three times per week.

So far this year, enplanements have risen each month compared to the same month in 2025, except in January. He noted that XNA was about 170 enplanements short in January.

“We continue with this roughly six-year trend of every single month being higher than the month in the previous year,” Burkes said. “So that is the one exception that is you’ll recall from weather that pushed those enplanements into February.”

When working on its 2026 budget, XNA staff had planned for more conservative growth this year. He added that it’s “proven to be true, but it has exceeded our expectations.” This past fall, seat availability in the market was projected to increase by less than 1% at XNA.

“That’s usually how we can kind of track what our enplanements are going to be,” Burkes said. “But those seats in the market change as demand changes, fares change, so it continued to grow. And we were a couple of percentage points growth earlier in the year. Now we are actually up to 7.2% for the year.”

Between January and April, enplanements rose by 5.95% to 376,693 from 355,525 in the same period in 2025. In April, enplanements increased by 7.83% to 105,165 from 97,533 in the same month in 2025.

By comparison, enplanements at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock increased by 0.53% to 331,424 in the first four months of 2026 from 329,687 in the same period in 2025. In April, enplanements rose by 2.44% to 91,967 from 89,773. At Fort Smith Regional Airport, the state’s third-largest commercial airport, enplanements increased by 0.66% to 18,039 between January and April from 17,921 in the same period in 2025. In April, enplanements rose by 1.36% to 4,548 from 4,487 in the same month in 2025.

Burkes said throughput at XNA’s security checkpoint was up 6% in May, “so it looks like for the first five months we’re going to be up solidly 6%, which exceeds our budget, exceeds our estimate. But it is still more conservative than what we’ve seen in growth over the last couple of years.”

FUEL PRICE IMPACT
Since before the Iran War started in February, jet fuel prices have doubled from about $2 to $4 a gallon after peaking at almost $5 a gallon. Burkes said the numbers often change and are challenging to track, “but it does have a big impact.” He said fuel comprises about 20% to 30% of an airline’s costs.

“The increase between the cost of fuel is way more than the total profit for all U.S. airlines last year,” he said. “The only way to deal with that is to increase fares, and that’s what we’re seeing happen.”

According to the consumer price index for all urban consumers, airline fares are up 20.7% in April from the same month in 2025. Still, flight demand remains strong, Burkes said. The higher fares aren’t leading to a decline in ticket sales.

“So it’s been pretty phenomenal,” he said. “I mean, I don’t think any of us would have expected this three months ago when we were talking about the impact of fuel prices.”

Burkes attributed the strong demand to wealthier people whose stock portfolios and real estate values are increasing.

“People feel wealthy,” he said. “And, you know, they feel wealthier than they felt in many cases ever because of the value of those assets. So even if their income hasn’t changed dramatically, they feel like, you know, it’s not going to hurt to spend $20,000 on a dream vacation.”

The concern, he said, is that if the stock market were to decline, people would feel less wealthy. This could lead to “a very rapid decrease in consumption for what’s carrying the economy… Consumption is about 70% of gross domestic product, so it’s a big deal if that gets hit.”

ROAD UPDATE, BOARD ACTIONS
The XNA Board of Directors also received an update on the XNA connector road, Arkansas Highway 642, between the extension of Arkansas Highway 612, or the Springdale Northern Bypass, and the south entrance to the airport at Arkansas Highway 264.

Philip Taldo, XNA board member and chairman of the Arkansas Highway Commission, said the 4-mile project has 11 bridges. Crossland Construction Co. is the general contractor on the $127.87 million project. Work started in June 2024 and was projected to be completed in June 2027. The contractor might be completed by late this summer or early fall.

Directors also approved the following:
Purchasing 99.95 acres east of the airport for $4.57 million. The property was identified for future airport expansion and is in the area for a future second runway.

Spending up to $200,000 to design a proposed roundabout at the intersection of Airport Boulevard and Regional Avenue. A recent traffic study by Fehr & Peers shows that the intersection is not adequate to handle 2050 traffic volumes.

The final design for the expansion on the west side of the terminal. Rogers-based Hight Jackson Associates is the designer, and a third-party pricing review is underway by the Cumming Group before the project goes to bid this summer. A summer 2025 estimate for the two-level, 88,939-square-foot expansion was $109.4 million.

Spending up to $1.97 million for design work on a new parking garage and plaza between the proposed and existing garage, south of the terminal entrance.