XNA nearing full capacity, official says

Burkes: Growth means second concourse needed

HIGHFILL — Airport officials are eyeing a second concourse to keep up with increasing customers and to entice more airlines and passengers.

The Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority board recently gave staff approval to find a design firm for the addition, which would add up to 94,000 square feet to the terminal. Estimated cost is $72 million to design and build. Design, planning and engineering is estimated to cost about $3 million.

“XNA is nearing full utilization of our existing gates,” said Aaron Burkes, CEO of the airport. “We are working hard to attract new service — new airlines as well as new direct destinations from those airlines currently serving our market,” he said.

“The additional gate and terminal capacity enables us to aggressively recruit new air service without being concerned about whether we can accommodate the additional planes and passengers.”

The more direct destinations offered and the more airlines at XNA, the better the customer experience

and the lower the fares will be, Burkes said. Adding a concourse with up to eight gates would also create space for more food providers and amenities.

Finding a design firm is a critical step that should be started immediately, staff told board members in a recent memo.

Airport officials have known for years they’d have to add a concourse B. It was just a matter of when.

Airlines are using most of the gate space, the hunt is on for more carriers to fly out of the airport, and boardings, called enplanements in the aviation industry, are at record highs. Trying to add gate capacity after a new carrier joins XNA would be challenging, officials predict.

Plans call for getting the design done, then building the addition in phases, with the “final expansion” expected in the late 2020s. That date could be earlier depending on demand.

A recently completed study suggests additional gates will be needed within the next five years. Airlines are keeping 15 planes overnight at XNA, and those planes depart in the early morning primarily from eight gates, according to Kelly Johnson, chief operating officer at the airport. About 40 flights a day depart from the airport to some 18 destinations.

“We’re making it work,” Johnson said. “But, it’s becoming a little bit more challenging.”

Some gates are seeing seven turns, or use cycles, a day, and consultants said they get concerned about efficient use when gates reach six turns per day.

“It’d be smart to get construction underway and, hopefully, get it online before an entry carrier comes in,” Michael Floyd with Leigh/ Fisher, the consulting firm that did the gate study, told board members.

The situation is compounded by the fact that some gates on concourse A will be blocked while concourse B is being built. Concourse B could provide an additional eight gates.

Officials think most of the cost could be paid through a mix of federal money the airport receives, airline rates and charges and some new revenue from concessions and other sources.

Many critical capital improvement projects at the airport are tied to the number of annual enplanements, which were more than 788,000 last year and are projected to top 900,000 next year. The projects need

“We’re making it work. But, it’s becoming a little bit more challenging.” — Kelly Johnson, chief operating officer at the airport

to be underway or completed by the time enplanements hit 1.3 million, according to a comprehensive plan adopted by the board.

Enplanements are up 15.2% year-to-date as of July 31. American Airlines and United Airlines are by far the biggest users of gate space at XNA.

The new concourse is but one of a host of capital projects the authority is looking at building over the next decade. Directors said they’d like to begin as many projects of a 10-year capital improvement program as they can pay for. The list has, potentially, $200 million worth of projects.

The list of projects includes renovating a taxiway and expanding the TSA checkpoint, both of which are underway at an estimated cost of $33 million; an airport connector road, for which officials hope the state will do most of the work; a terminal renovation and expansion program, estimated at $63 million; and, an air traffic control tower, estimated to cost $10 million. Those esti- mates are all in 2019 dollars.

Other wish list projects include buying land adjacent to the airport, a second park- ing deck and a hotel.