Fort Smith runway
to close for paving
Fort Smith Regional Airport will be without airline service for two weeks beginning Aug. 21 to accommodate work on a $12.5 million pavement project on the main runway, airport officials announced Tuesday.
American Airlines, the only commercial carrier serving the airport, has four daily departures.
Runway 7/25, which is 8,017 feet long, will be closed through Sept. 5, airport director Michael Griffin said in a news release.
"Customers with tickets during these dates should be contacted by the airline or can contact them on their toll-free number, or at their website, www.aa.com," Griffin said.
The airport's secondary runway, Runway 1/9, which is 5,002 feet long, will be open for general aviation aircraft except for Sept. 1-5, which is when paving is scheduled at the intersection of both runways, according to the news release.
The paving project began July 19 and is scheduled to take 150 days. The project is being conducted in stages to "minimize air service interruptions," Griffin said.
American flights are scheduled to resume Sept. 6.
-- Noel Oman
Today Murphy USA
to release earnings
Murphy USA is expected to release its second-quarter earnings after market close today, followed by a conference call Thursday morning.
El Dorado-based Murphy USA is a convenience store and gas station company. A consensus of five analysts predicts earnings per share at $3.20 and revenue of $4.14 billion for the quarter ended June 30, according to Yahoo Finance.
Shares closed at $147.01, down one cent in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares have traded as low as $117.08 and as high as $159 over the past year.
The conference call will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday and may be accessed by calling 1-833-968-2218 and using conference ID number 6739389. It will also be webcast on the investor relations section of the company website. The webcast will be available for replay an hour after the conference call ends, and a transcript will be available shortly thereafter, according to the company.
Murphy USA has more than 1,650 locations in 27 states, most near Walmart stores.
-- John Magsam
For Arkansas Index,
day ends down a bit
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Tuesday at 642.80, down 0.61.
"U.S. stocks fell for the first time in six days on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq leading the group lower down 1.2% ahead of quarterly earnings reports from several megacap technology companies," said Chris Harkins, managing director at Raymond James & Associates.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.