Passengers kept Northwest Arkansas National Airport’s terminal humming in May, helping the airport log the second-highest passenger count in its history.

The airport saw 124,537 travelers depart last month, continuing a trend of strong growth at the region’s commercial airport. XNA’s record month of 125,189 passengers in June 2025 seems almost certain to fall into the No. 2 position once June 2026 statistics are counted.

That fall seems inevitable because the airport’s Transportation Security Administration checkpoint is screening more passengers than ever this month. The June surge has been created, in part, by the large number of people flying home after attending the Walmart shareholders’ events held in Northwest Arkansas.

XNA recorded 473,346 departing passengers during the first five months of 2025, and it’s beating that pace this year with 501,230. That’s 5.9% growth.

All six airlines that provide regular service at XNA — Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Breeze Airways, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines and United Airlines — had their best month so far this year in May.

For American and Breeze, it was their all-time best month at XNA.

American has been the airport’s leading airline since the day it opened in 1998, but May was the first time it exceeded 60,000 passengers in a single month. The 60,234 American passengers helped it top its previous best month (59,429 in October 2025).

Breeze, meanwhile, saw 4,404 passengers in May. Its previous best was 3,721 in June 2023. In a typical month, Breeze sees fewer than 3,000 passengers.