Airlines are starting to shed flights in earnest at Arkansas' four commercial service airports in response to a dramatic reduction in passenger traffic because of the spread of coronavirus.
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, the state's largest, saw its four main carriers cut 14 daily flights. Delta Air Lines led the way with cutting six of its eight daily flights.
United Airlines cut four of its 12 daily flights, American Airlines shelved three of its 16 daily flights and Southwest Airlines removed one of its seven daily flights, according to Shane Carter, the airport spokesman.
Additionally, the carriers are canceling several more flights every day, he said in an email.
"There have been 15 inbound and 15 outbound cancellations today," Carter said Monday.
Northwest Arkansas National Airport is scheduled to lose an additional flight on April 1 when United suspends its Newark service. The airline already announced it would suspend its San Francisco service, also on April 1.
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Fort Smith Regional Airport said Delta has disclosed it will suspend one of its two flights to Atlanta starting April 1. American hasn't announced any change to its three daily flights.
Texarkana Regional Airport, meanwhile, saw one of its three daily flights by American eliminated after the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it couldn't handle three flights because illness had reduced its staffing levels.
In a bid to reduce the bleeding, Arkansas airports have, or are considering, instituting a range of reduced fees.
Last week, the Texarkana Airport Commission waived landing fees and rent for American, the sole carrier operating at the airport, for four months beginning April 1.
Paul Mehrlich, the airport's executive director, said the move would save the airline $32,000.
While the airline offered no guarantee it would stay, Mehrlich said he hopes American would reduce rather than eliminate service altogether, given that the airport expects to break ground on a $34 million terminal next year.
"As long as we keep the airline, we can reduce down and build back up, reflecting the travel habits of the population," he said. "But it's very different if they pull out altogether."
Clinton National likely will give its airlines and tenants some relief, Carter said.
"We are evaluating rent relief requests from tenants and plan to make adjustments within the coming weeks," he said in an email.
Michael Griffin, the director of Fort Smith Regional, said the Fort Smith Airport Commission will take up proposed relief for its airlines and tenants as soon as its meeting tonight.
"We are going to help," he said without offering specifics in advance of the meeting. "That's the bottom line."
The cuts at Clinton National came less than a week after its top executive, Bryan Malinowski, said he expected passenger activity at the airport to be cut in half.
Mehrlich said passenger activity at his airport is down 80% and predicted the activity would fall 54% on an annual basis. Texarkana Regional had more than 37,000 boardings last year, he said.
The picture, nationally, is just as bleak.
On Sunday, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it screened 454,516 airline passengers at airport security checkpoints. On the same day last year, the agency screened 2,542,643, the TSA said.
The resulting drop in passengers also reduced revenue for the airlines. Delta, for instance, said it expects the coronavirus pandemic will cut its second-quarter earnings by 80% and result in a $10 billion loss.
As a result, Delta and other carriers are eliminating routes and switching to smaller aircraft in a bid to slash costs.
At Clinton National, the airlines no longer staff the ticket counters, either, according to Carter, who urged travelers to contact the airlines by phone or through their websites to make reservation changes.
In such a dire climate, service at small airports such as Texarkana are on the chopping block because airlines service them with their smallest aircraft, which they want to shift to bigger airports.
American already had cut service at three airports by the time a route planner for the airline contacted Mehrlich, who just started as executive director in January, he said.
American flies three flights daily seven days a week between Texarkana and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Mehrlich moved quickly to recommend the commission waive the landing fees and rent for the airline. At the least, the move may have bought Texarkana Regional time.
"They can't give me a guarantee of 100% that they are going to stay here," Mehrlich said. "We don't know what is going to happen. But they're able to stay here for now."
American has been at Texarkana airport since the airport opened in 1937 with the exception of a few years during World War II.
"We used to have other airlines here," Mehrlich said. "We used to have Continental back in the day. ... But American Airlines has stayed with us. Ever since the beginning of this airport. We felt this was one of those opportunities where we needed to stand by the airline that's continued to serve our community."
There is the matter of the new terminal, too.
"It's a lot harder to build a terminal when you have no airlines," Mehrlich said. "We were doing what we could do to protect that."
CORRECTION: Texarkana Regional had more than 37,000 boardings last year, according to Paul Mehrlich, the airport's executive director. An earlier version of this story provided an incorrect number of boardings.
Business on 03/24/2020