Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field is on track in 2018 to top 2 million passengers for the second consecutive year.
Through the first six months of 2018, a total of 1,015,438 passengers have gone through the state's largest airport, according to the latest data. The total is 2.4 percent higher than the same period in 2017. Clinton National finished last year with 2,029,309 passengers, the first time since 2014 when it handled more than 2 million passengers.
June was the second month in a row that passenger traffic rose more than 4 percent. Last month, Clinton National handled 204,651 passengers, or 4.08 percent more than in June 2017.
Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport at Highfill reported 153,365 passengers in June, a 9.24 percent increase over the same month last year.
Passenger traffic is up 6.17 percent for the year with 750,091 going through Northwest Arkansas Regional in the first six months of 2018 compared with the same period a year ago.
-- Noel Oman
Bank OZK celebrates name at opening bell
Bank of the Ozarks officially changed its name to Bank OZK and stock ticker symbol to OZK on Monday, the Little Rock bank said.
The name change was approved at the annual shareholders meeting May 7.
The bank, represented by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George Gleason and other executives, celebrated the changes by ringing the opening bell Monday in New York at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square.
"Today marks the beginning of a new journey," Gleason said.
The change reflects Bank OZK's continuing evolution from an Arkansas community bank into a much larger regional bank with a national lending business, the bank said.
Bank OZK expects the changes to cost up to $25 million. New exterior signs will be installed at Bank OZK's 253 offices and ATMs over the next 90 days.
-- David Smith
State index finishes at 436.95, off 2.94
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.94 to 436.95 Monday.
"U.S. stocks rolled over after an opening rally failed to hold on lower oil and energy stocks despite solid earnings results from the likes of Bank of America," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.
Total volume for the index was 20.1 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 07/17/2018