Poor old May held its spot as the Northwest Arkansas National Airport’s best month for just four weeks.
Now, May is a distant second fiddle.
That’s because the airport’s June numbers are in, and Northwest Arkansas’ gateway to the world saw 108,777 people board flights. June trounced May by more than 9,400 passengers, becoming the first month to top 100,000 passengers.
Such lofty passenger numbers are important to the long-term success of Northwest Arkansas as a whole. Every additional passenger means additional revenue to the airport, providing the funding needed for future expansions.
Moreover, Northwest Arkansas adds 36 people a day to its population and is plowing toward 1 million residents by 2050. To keep up with the population growth and meet the needs of business and leisure travelers, XNA will need to keep adding flights and attract new airline partners.
The region will need more flights to destinations that are already on its route map such as New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and Atlanta, but it’ll also need airlines to add destinations such as San Francisco and Salt Lake City.
June should stick
There’s every reason to believe June 2024 will remain XNA’s best month for a long while. A surge in summer travel that occurs right after the school year ends coupled with the timing of the Walmart shareholders celebrations in early June usually turns the month into XNA’s summertime superstar.
June has held up as XNA’s best month in 20 of its 25 years in operation.
Airlines filled up June schedule
What was unique this June was how frequently the airlines flew from XNA compared to last year. The airport’s six airlines — Allegiant, American, Breeze, Delta, Frontier and United — made 4,227 seats available to passengers. It was 17% more than June 2023.
Some of the biggest increases in flying compared to June 2023 came from the airlines going to Charlotte, Dallas and Miami (American); Denver (United and Frontier); New York, Atlanta and Minneapolis (Delta); and Houston (United).
There were three notable decreases. United flew less often to Chicago; Breeze didn’t fly as much to Tampa and Orlando.
So far this month, the number of people passing through the Transportation Security Administration’s checkpoint at XNA each day gives every indication that July will be robust. There appears to be little chance that it can outperform June.
