Passenger traffic at Fort Smith Airport increased by 3.4% through July

Between January and July, there were a total of 35,636 arrivals and departures at Fort Smith Regional Airport, an increase of 3.4% compared to the same period in 2023. However, in July, traffic decreased by more than 8% compared to July 2023.

“The numbers are constant. Of course we would like to have more, … but we are trending in the right direction,” said airport director Michael Griffin.

There were a total of 5,766 boardings in July, a decrease of 8.4% from 6,294 in July 2023. The airport recorded 60,669 boardings in 2023, a decrease of 1.7% from 2022. The decline followed two years of growth after 2020, when annual traffic fell to 38,660 boardings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

American Airlines, the only airline operating in Fort Smith, had four to five flights per day in 2021 but has reduced its schedule to three flights per day. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines stopped its direct flight to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in July 2020.

The airport received a $1.145 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Small Community Air Service Development Program in August 2022 to recruit a route to Chicago or another Northeastern market. The grant is valid for 10 years. The airport contracted with Mead & Hunt of Middleton, Wisconsin, to recruit more flights and enter new markets.

Griffin said he continues to work with airport consultants to add more airlines and more routes, but “it’s still a difficult environment,” particularly because of the pilot shortage.

“The industry in general is scaling back. Unfortunately, it (the struggle to expand service) is not just a Fort Smith problem, it affects all of us, all airports,” he said.

Airlines for America, an airline trade group, reported on Aug. 8 an 8.4% increase in pilot numbers in 2024 compared to 2023, but an 18% decrease in pilot numbers for regional routes. The report also found that there were 63% fewer regional aircraft in the system since 2019.

From January to June, boardings at Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) increased 11% to 525,325, up from 473,154 during the same period last year. In 2023, boardings rose to a record 991,489, surpassing the previous high of 922,533 in 2019. At the state’s largest airport, Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, boardings increased 6.37% from January to June, to 559,716, up from 526,221.

Boardings in Fort Smith were on a growth trajectory before the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time boardings exceeded 100,000 was in 2005 with 102,607. The record is 112,782 boardings, set in 1975. Below are Fort Smith’s boarding totals for the past 10 years.
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
2014: 92,869

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