Northwest Arkansas National Airport kept piling up big numbers in December, ending the year with a record-breaking 1,263,634 passengers.

That number of passengers boarding flights topped the 1,144,820 people who flew from XNA in 2024.

The airport shared its year-end statistics earlier today.

While XNA’s deep investments over the years into a close-up parking deck, new in-terminal amenities such as the Escape passenger lounge, and good-looking upgrades to the front entrance and the terminal itself improved passengers’ flying experience, the decisions of the airlines created the opportunity for XNA to have a record-breaking year.

XNA, the airlines and passengers should benefit from new highway construction that’s occurring in the area. Under construction now is a four-mile access road that will take passengers from Arkansas Highway 612 to the airport’s south entrance, and a $180 million, six-mile section of Highway 612 will also make it easier to get to XNA.

While XNA increased its number of passengers boarding flights last year by 10.4% compared to 2024, its airlines increased the number of available seats by 12.5%. That extra seat capacity made it easier for passengers to purchase seats on flights they prefer.

Led by United Airlines at 85.7%, XNA’s three legacy carriers had load factors above 80%. American Airlines (80.7%) and Delta Air Lines (80.1%) managed to keep their planes mostly full throughout 2025.

XNA three other carriers, which rely heavily on flight purchases made by leisure travelers, had lower load factors than the legacy carriers in 2025. Those three were Allegiant Air (78.5%), Breeze Airways (73.5%) and Frontier Airlines (72.1%).

Load factor is the percentage of seats on a flight that are occupied by a passenger.

In the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the national average load factor was near 81.9%. XNA sat at 79.5% in that same 12 months. Nearby Tulsa (74%), Fort Smith (77%) and Little Rock (79.9%) put up similar numbers.