Federal data focused on travel from Northwest Arkansas National Airport shows just how much the availability of nonstop flights can drive up travel to destinations.
The data, compiled by Volaire Aviation Consulting and shared recently with FareFlightNWA, shows major increases in how many people traveled to Salt Lake City, Detroit, Philadelphia and Pensacola in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier. All of those places are relatively new nonstop options from XNA.
The most notable of those routes is the Delta Air Lines daily nonstop from XNA to Salt Lake City. In the fourth quarter of 2024, travelers flying from XNA to Salt Lake City had to rely entirely on connecting flights, and the route averaged 29 passengers a day. After Delta launched daily nonstop service in February 2025, average daily traffic to the city climbed to 49 passengers by the fourth quarter of the year.
Traffic to Detroit, which Delta made into a nonstop in November 2024, and Philadelphia, which became an American Airlines nonstop in December 2024, grew in similar ways. Passenger traffic to Philadelphia increased from 28 travelers a day to 43, while Detroit grew from 24 to 32 passengers a day.
Pensacola, meanwhile, became a twice-a-week nonstop offered by Breeze Airways in September last year. Travel there increased from just eight a day in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 30 a day in the fourth quarter last year.
Nonstops have long been able to intensify travel to destinations from XNA.
The single biggest impact of a nonstop was driven by Breeze and American Airlines. After Breeze announced that it would start flying to Phoenix in 2022, American quickly announced that it, too, would go to Phoenix, but with daily service to the city rather than twice-a-week flights.
That decision by American, which caused Breeze to back away from its Phoenix plan, remains one of the most impactful additions of service at XNA. What started out as a single flight to Phoenix in early 2024 is now twice-a-day nonstops to the city. The data shows 94 people travel there from XNA on an average day.
Top destinations from XNA
The New York/Newark market remains XNA’s top destination, with 205 passengers traveling there each day. Most weekdays feature four nonstop flights from XNA to New York LaGuardia, including three operated by American and one by Delta.
Chicago ranks as the airport’s second-largest destination, drawing 150 passengers a day. American carries 99 of those travelers, while United Airlines handles 51.
Denver has long served as XNA’s strongest westbound destination. United carries 98 of the 149 daily passengers traveling there and operates four nonstop flights a day to the Mile High City.
Los Angeles slipped from XNA’s No. 2 destination in the fourth quarter of 2024 to No. 4 by the end of 2025. The market now averages 129 passengers a day, with most travelers flying on American.
Allegiant Air carries the largest share of passengers traveling to the Orlando/Sanford market, XNA’s fifth-largest destination. Allegiant handles 58 of the 128 daily passengers flying to the Central Florida destination.
