FareFlightNWA, an organization that helps promote Northwest Arkansas National Airport in Bentonville, recently published a blog post detailing the airport’s plans to launch a formal recruitment campaign targeting Southwest Airlines. The airline currently flies from the Clinton National Airport in Little Rock and an airport in nearby Tulsa, Okla., the post states.
According to the post, XNA will form a five- to seven-person community advisory committee to provide input about the recruitment. XNA is working to identify the best Southwest routes for the airport, with daily flights to Dallas Love Field, Chicago Midway, St. Louis and Denver as likely contenders, the post states, adding that Southwest competitors currently offer nonstop flights to Denver and airports in the Chicago and Dallas metropolitan areas from XNA.
To post details various factors that could make XNA appealing to Southwest. The airport is slated to end the year with about 980,000 passengers, a jump from the 922,000 passengers it saw during 2019, its best year, despite the number of available seats declining from about 3,500 each day in 2019 to about 3,150 per day in November, the post states.
According to the post, the greatest seat reductions are for trips to Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta, which could lead to fuller flights for Southwest if the airline chooses to fly from XNA.
The post also notes that residents of northwest Arkansas are already familiar with Southwest because of the airline’s advertisements on local television stations, which showcase the airline’s availability across the Oklahoma border in Tulsa and passengers’ ability to pay change fees or for the first two checked bags.
Another attractive feature of XNA, the post states, is that the airport recently agreed to reduce the cost per enplaned passenger to $8.46 next year, a reduction from $9.20 this year and about $10 last year. The figure takes into account what airlines are required to pay for rent, landing fees and fuel flowage fees, among other charges, the post states, adding that CPE can vary widely, from more than $25 at large airports to less than $2 at the airport in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the post, the 13 peer airports of XNA surveyed in 2021 have CPEs of between $16.08 in Greensboro, N.C. and $2.04 in Colorado Springs, which placed XNA’s fee, then $9.98, in the middle of the group.
XNA leaders currently meet with Southwest representatives each year at events that include the JumpStart Air Service Development Conference and Routes Americas, the post states.
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