HIGHFILL -- The Northwest Arkansas National Airport for the first time topped 1 million enplanements over a 12-month period ending Feb. 29, based of federal Transportation Security Administration data.
Airport officials say 1,011,204 people caught flights out of the airport from March 2023 through February.
"XNA continues to see unprecedented growth, and month-to-date TSA throughput numbers indicate that the strength is continuing into March," said Olivia Tyler, public affairs manager at the airport.
Throughput numbers are the raw numbers of people passing through the TSA checkpoint. Air crews are counted in the throughput, but not on official enplanement numbers.
Passenger numbers are important to airports because they are the basis for federal funding. They're also used to determine when expansion projects will need to begin, like the terminal renovation that is underway at the airport.
Tyler said the airport had a record-breaking January as enplanements increased by 13.4% over January 2023, according to federal Transportation Security Administration figures. February enplanements were up 17.8% over February 2023.
"January and February are consistently the slowest air travel months of the year, but XNA just had the busiest January and February in the airport's history," she said. "XNA continues to see remarkable growth, and that is indicative of remarkable growth in the region. XNA strives to provide a sense of place within the terminal in order to best reflect the treasures of Northwest Arkansas."
According to the Security Administration, 70,716 people caught flights out of the airport in January compared with 62,354 in January 2023. In February, 75,011 people boarded flights compared to 63,658 in February 2023.
Tyler said the airport's TSA throughput numbers indicate that they're continuing to trend upward.
"If the strength we've seen over January and February is an indicator of 2024 enplanement numbers, then we would expect to exceed 1 million enplanements for the year," Tyler said. "It is hard to say if we will continue to match 1 million enplanements per 12-month period because we don't usually use that metric to measure enplanements."
Airlines for America, an industry trade organization for U.S. airlines, is projecting airlines will carry a record-setting 167.1 million travelers, 2.7 million each day, during the 2024 spring travel period, from March 1 through April 30. That would be a 6% increase over the 2023 spring travel season when 157.4 million travelers, 2.6 million each day, took to the skies.
U.S. airlines are offering more flights and larger airplanes compared to last year o accommodate that expected volume of travelers, according to the organization.
Northwest National came close to 1 million enplanements last year with 991,489 total enplanements for the year. It was the busiest year ever for the 25-year-old airport, 7.5% higher than the previous record year of 2019, which was prior to the covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, passengers declined 61% to 360,133.
Northwest Arkansas National Airport officials had used 2019 as their measuring stick, but will now use 2023, according to Aaron Burkes, CEO.
The first targeted number for starting projects was 900,000 passengers, about where the airport was in 2019 before the pandemic. The targeted numbers for subsequent projects are 1.1 million, 1.3 million, 1.5 million and 1.7 million passengers.
The airport averages about 258 outbound flights a week among the six airlines serving it. American Airlines continues to have the largest share of the market, and Dallas/Fort Worth sees the most outbound flights.
Kymberlee Zydonis of Colorado Springs, Colo., makes her way to the security gate Jan. 11 at Northwest Arkansas National Airport in Bentonville. The airport for the first time topped 1 million enplanements over a 12-month period ending Feb. 29, based of federal Transportation Security Administration data. (File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)