Fewer people using Fort Smith airport; but trend improving
by October 7, 2009 7:07 am 58 views
If things must quit getting worse before they get better, then things are getting better at the Fort Smith Regional Airport. 
Traffic out of the airport continues to reflect the national and local economic slowdown, with September enplanements down 8.3% compared to August 2008. September saw 5,836 boardings out of Fort Smith, according to figures published by the airport.
The improvement is seen in a reduction in the year-over-year percentage declines at the end of each month. For the first nine months of the year, enplanements total 59,816 down 9.8% from the 66,369 in the same period of 2008. The trend, however, is improving considering that enplanements for the first eight months of the year were down 10%, were down 11.1% for the first six months of the year.
American Eagle reported that its September boardings were 1.342 million, up 6.3% from September 2008. For the year, the regional airline reports boardings of 11.908 million, down 7% compared to the same period of 2008.
The Air Transport Association has attributed the drop in commercial airline traffic to the global recession, and later updated the report to include the outbreak of swine flu as a cause in reduced airline traffic.
“The industry continues to see a reduction in the number of air travelers, despite double-digit declines in fares. While there are signs that improvement may be on the horizon, regrettably the demand for air travel remains weak,” ATA President and CEO James May, said in a Sept. 21 report on the industry.
Passenger enplanements at the Fort Smith Regional Airport totaled 87,030 in 2008, down 12.2% from the 99,127 enplanements in 2007. The 2008 traffic total is the lowest at the airport in the past 10 years.
The Fort Smith Regional Airport lost in June its direct Delta connection to the Atlanta airport. The loss is a result of the acquisition of Northwest Airlines by Delta. American Eagle Airlines operates five flights a day — all connecting to Dallas-Fort Worth — out of Fort Smith. Delta/Northwest has three flights a day to Memphis.