The best month in the history of Northwest Arkansas National Airport was its most recent one, pulling in more than 97,000 passengers for summertime trips.
XNA, which opened in 1998, saw 97,842 people board its flights in June. Its previous best was June 2019, when there were a little more than 91,000 fliers.
The airport made its latest stats public this week.
XNA’s record-breaking June moved from a possibility to an almost-certainty after seeing the May numbers. The airport garnered more than 90,000 travelers that month, and it’s common for XNA to see 4,000 to 7,000 more travelers in June than May as school ends and summer vacations kick into high gear.
Record days
Early June gave more hints at what was to come.
The airport saw incredible numbers of people pass through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the airport in the first few days of June.
While not everyone who passes through the checkpoint is a passenger (a small percentage are airport workers, for example), June 2, 3 and 4 became three of the checkpoint’s four busiest days ever at XNA. The days were primary travel days for people headed home after attending the Walmart shareholders’ meeting and celebration activities that week.
Other stats gleaned from the latest XNA report:
- American Airlines, which is the airport’s leading carrier, was a smaller-than-normal portion of the travelers at 46% of all travelers in June. For the year, it’s 50.6%.
- Delta Air Line’s presence at XNA continues to decline as a portion of all air travel. United Airlines (17.5% this year) overtook Delta as XNA’s No. 2 carrier in 2019. Delta is near 13.5% so far in 2023.
- Low-cost carriers at XNA account for a larger percentage of the airport’s business in the summer months. Led by Allegiant’s 14.8%, the three combined for 21.5% in June.
- Low-cost carrier Breeze Airways had its best month since arriving at XNA in mid-2021. It saw 3,721 board its flights. Of late, it’s been flying four times a week to Orlando and twice a week to New Orleans and Tampa.
