’23 busiest ever for NWA airport
Officials report record 991,489 enplanements for year
HIGHFILL — Northwest Arkansas National Airport had its busiest year in 2023, coming close to having a million enplanements in its silver anniversary year.
The airport saw 79,110 people catch flights in December, according to airport officials. That brought total enplanements for the year to 991,489.
“The year 2023 set an incredible new high for the airport. Our enplanements beat our best year ever, which was pre-pandemic 2019, every month of the year,” CEO Aaron Burkes said. “We finished the year up 7.5% from the 2019 record numbers, and we were up 18.6% over 2022.”
Burkes said the airport finished the year slightly better than forecast because of strong end-of-year holiday travel.
“That strength appears to be continuing into 2024, where we are seeing record numbers of people through the TSA checkpoint for a January, which is normally one of the slowest months of the year,” he said.
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.
“If the economy holds up, it is reasonable to think that we could exceed a million enplanements for 2024 for the first time in the airport’s history, although it is premature to actually forecast those numbers,” Burkes said. “Higher enplanements benefit our region by making it easier to attract and retain airlines flying larger planes with more frequency to more direct destinations at lower fares.”
The airport has traditionally seen more business travel than leisure travel, but that has changed some since the pandemic, Burkes said.
“Demand for travel is still very high. However, the cost is 20% to 30% higher than pre-pandemic times,” said Frances Mayo, owner of Around the World Travel in Springdale. “Some folks simply cannot afford the increase
or cut back on their plans. But those that can afford it are booking bigger and longer trips.”
While not back to pre-pandemic levels yet, business travel has also rebounded, according to Burkes.
Passenger numbers are the basis for federal funding at airports.
They’re also used to determine when expansion projects will need to begin at the airport, 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 the pandemic decimated air travel.
The targeted numbers for subsequent projects are 1.1 million, 1.3 million, 1.5 million and 1.7 million passengers.
Northwest Arkansas National Airport 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, and Dallas/ Fort Worth sees the most outbound flights.