More than 2.1 million passengers passed through the terminal at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in 2018, a 5.5 percent jump compared with a year earlier and the most in five years.
In December, passenger traffic at the state's largest airport climbed 7.99 percent to 175,914 compared with 162,894 who went through Clinton National in Little Rock in the same month in 2017.
December marked the 10th-straight month in 2018 that passenger traffic increased compared with the same month a year earlier, according to T.J. Williams, the airport's air service development director.
Last month's totals left Clinton National with 2,140,981 departing and arriving passengers last compared with 2,029,309 passengers in 2017. It was the highest total since 2013 when 2,167,430 passengers went through the airport.
Passenger traffic at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill rose 7.26 percent to 1,574,610 last year compared with 1,438,922 passengers in 2017. The 2018 passenger total was the highest the airport recorded in its 20 full years of operation.
Northwest Arkansas Regional saw 61,378 passengers go through its terminal in December, an 8.68 percent increase from the same month a year ago.
-- Noel Oman
4 companies added to Walmart delivery
Walmart is adding four delivery companies to its online grocery delivery service, the company said Thursday in a news release.
Point Pickup, Skipcart, AxleHire and Roadie will help power Walmart's online grocery delivery in four states with expansion planned in coming weeks. Grocery delivery is available in more than 800 stores and another 800 will be added this year, the company said.
"Customers love our Grocery Delivery service. As they are busy managing jobs, soccer practice, dance lessons and social schedules we are on a mission to do more than keep a little extra money in their pockets," said Tom Ward, senior vice president of Walmart's digital operations in the U.S. "With the help of these new delivery partners, we're making grocery shopping even easier by bringing the everyday low prices of Walmart right to the front door of customers."
-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
State index up 5.40 to end day at 403.33
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 5.40 to 403.33 Thursday.
"Stocks rallied sharply in afternoon trading led by the materials and industrials sectors following a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. is considering lifting tariffs on Chinese goods in an effort to win concessions during trade negotiations," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 01/18/2019