NWA airport passenger count on the rise
HIGHFILL — The number of people catching outbound flights continued trending higher than previous years at Northwest Arkansas National Airport in August but may fall short of 1 million if current projections hold through the end of the year.
“It’d be really cool in our 25th year to hit 1 million, but I think we’re going to be a little bit shy,” CEO Aaron Burkes told the airport board last week.
Burkes said passenger numbers have been running about 8% ahead of 2019. He’s expecting the total for the year to be more than 950,000 but less than a million, based on projections.
Airport officials have used 2019 as a measuring stick because the covid-19 pandemic decimated travel beginning in early 2020. The airport had a record year in 2019 with 922,553 passengers. In 2020, passengers declined 61% to 360,133.
Monthly passengers this year have been tracking almost identically to 2019 so far; they’re just slightly higher each month, Burkes said.
Longtime board member Art Morris of Siloam Springs added some perspective.
“Those are some pretty impressive numbers when you consider 25 years ago when we opened we only had one airline,” Morris said.
Airport officials say 84,904 passengers caught flights at the airport in August. That puts enplanements up 19.5% year-to-date over 2022.
“XNA’s August passenger traffic recovery is 10 percentage points better than the U.S. industry average,” said Edward Shelswell-White, chief customer officer with airport consultants Sky Synergy. “This demonstrates not only the strength and desirability of the Northwest Arkansas market, but also the effectiveness of XNA’s customer-centric approach that prioritizes growing passenger demand.”
There were 70,444 total passengers in August 2022.
The airport is closing in on surpassing last year’s numbers. There were 651,918 total enplanements through August. There were 836,195 enplanements for all of 2022.
Burkes said preliminary TSA data indicate that September will be another strong month for the airport.
Northwest Arkansas National has traditionally seen more business travel than leisure travel, but that has changed some post-pandemic, Burkes said. The combination of very strong leisure travel demand, a wide variety of affordable direct flights to leisure destinations and lower airfares is resulting in very strong leisure demand.
While not back to pre-pandemic levels yet, business travel has also rebounded nicely in the past year or so, Burkes said.
“Nationally, business travel is estimated to be down over 20% from 2019 levels, but locally we are seeing strong business travel,” Burkes said.
Last year was the airport’s second-best year since opening, despite lingering effects of the pandemic. But 2022 was still down 9.4% from 2019, its best year ever.
Passenger numbers are the basis for federal funding at airports. They’re also used to determine when expansion projects will need to begin, like the current terminal renovation that is underway.
The first targeted number for starting projects was 900,000 passengers, which is about where the airport was in 2019 before covid decimated air travel. The targeted numbers for subsequent projects are 1.1 million, 1.3 million, 1.5 million and 1.7 million passengers.
Airport officials expect to spend about $620 million on various projects over the next 20 years, allowing for inflation. Officials review and analyze operations and passenger numbers annually to determine if they need to rearrange projects or change priorities.
Northwest Arkansas National averages about 258 outbound flights a week among the six airlines serving the airport. American Airlines continues to have the largest share of the market, 49.5% in August.
Dallas/Fort Worth sees the most outbound flights with 59 per week. Chicago is second with 37 and Atlanta has 34. Charlotte, N.C., has 28 and Denver 25 flights a week from Northwest Arkansas National.
The current trend among airlines is using bigger planes with more seats but fewer flights, according to Burkes. Northwest Arkansas National actually has fewer seats available now than before the pandemic started in 2019, he said.
“We’re just filling our planes a little more full,” Burkes said.
The airport has narrowed the gap for the average price of round-trip airfare compared to peer airports. In the first quarter of the year, average round-trip airfare was $499, while peer airports averaged $467.
In the first quarter of 2018, Northwest Arkansas National was averaging $551 compared to peer airports’ average of $431.
Northwest Arkansas National is also doing better at keeping travelers in its catchment area. In 2017, about 20% of people in the area were going elsewhere to catch flights; that figure is about 11% now.
Several new amenities are coming soon to the airport, according to Andrew Branch, chief operating officer.
Final drawings have been approved, a contractor engaged and construction of a Slim Chickens restaurant is expected to begin within the next month.
Site preparation and utility installation is underway for a new Cafe X, which uses a robotic arm to prepare various Onyx coffees to order. Installation is expected in October.
A day-pass program, which will allow visitors to get clearance to let them through the security checkpoint to greet incoming visitors, see outgoing passengers off or use the restaurants and shops on Concourse A, is expected to receive Transportation Security Administration approval soon. They’re waiting for TSA staff training now. The kiosk has been installed in the terminal.
The airport and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art have reached an agreement and final design is expected to begin soon on gallery space in the terminal that will house exhibits from the museum’s collection. The gallery is expected to cost about $191,000.
Airport officials expect to receive proposals for a lounge in the terminal by Oct. 13. Five companies showed up for a site visit earlier this month. A 3,255-square-foot area has been identified for a lounge beyond the TSA checkpoint. Staff members hope to have a proposal to recommend to the board in December.