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Big numbers just keep rolling in at Northwest Arkansas National Airport as it surpassed 100,000 passengers for the third time in four months.

September saw 101,840 people board flights at XNA. It was the airport’s best September in its 26-year history.

September’s success has XNA on pace for what should be at least 1.1 million passengers this year. The airport through the first nine months of this year is about 13.5% ahead of how many passengers boarded flights in 2023’s first nine months. For now, 2023 sits as XNA’s best year (991,489).

While it’s often the busier-than-usual schedules of XNA’s low-cost carriers that ramp up summertime traffic, American Airlines was the major difference-maker in September.

American’s Best Month Ever

American is XNA’s biggest and most important carrier, transporting about 50% of all XNA passengers most years. In September, the airline had its highest number of passengers ever. With direct flights going to eight destinations (Charlotte, Washington Reagan, DFW, Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia, Miami, Chicago O’Hare and Phoenix Sky Harbor), the airline saw 50,508 people board its flights.

The only other month in which American exceeded 50,000 passengers was July this year.

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, the airport’s No. 2 and No. 3 carriers, had terrific Septembers, too.

September’s 17,066 people on Delta ranked as the airline’s fifth-best month at XNA.

United, meanwhile, boarded 19,928 passengers, narrowly missing having 20,000 for a fourth consecutive month. Prior to this year, United hadn’t experienced a 20,000-passenger month.

More Growth Ahead

There’s every reason to believe the airport will keep experiencing big months through the remainder of the year, and much of the credit goes to the airlines that are selling far more seats than they did last year.

In October, for example, the airlines have 1,087 more seats a day for sale, and that availability increases the likelihood that people will be able to find seats on the flights they prefer. American accounts for 611 of those seats, but United, Delta and Frontier Airlines are also contributing to the increase.

While the number of available seats will taper off a bit in November and even more in December, the flight schedules have the airlines offering far more seats for sale than November and December 2023.