Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field saw 2.1 million passenger arrivals and departures last year, a 5.5 percent increase in passenger traffic sparked by a stronger economy, its top executive said.
The passenger numbers were the airport's highest in five years.
"I think at the core of it, people feel good about where they are financially, companies feel good about where they are financially," said Ron Mathieu, the executive director at Clinton National.
The broader economy is certainly performing well, according to most measures. The national unemployment rate in December was 3.9 percent. The Arkansas unemployment rate was even lower, at 3.6 percent and unchanged from November.
"Some people say part of it is the tax cuts," Mathieu said. "I don't know. But I do know we have had an increase and I think people feel good about where they are and the economy is doing well."
The airport has room to for more passenger growth as long as the economy holds up, according to Joseph Pickering, an air-service consultant with Mead & Hunt, which is under contract with Clinton National. Even as passenger traffic grew 5.5 percent, according to the unofficial numbers from the airport, passenger capacity grew 7 percent, he said.
"That means [the airlines are] bullish on Little Rock," Pickering said.
The growth in capacity largely was driven by the addition of new service to four destinations last year, he said.
Frontier Airlines resumed operating at Clinton National in March after a four-year hiatus. In May, the airline began operating three flights a week between Little Rock and Denver and added a fourth flight in April.
American Airlines began offering nonstop service to Washington, D.C., in April. Via Airlines, a Florida-based budget carrier, began service between Little Rock and Austin, Texas, in May.
Frontier began nonstop flights between Little Rock and Orlando, Fla., in November.
The new service wouldn't be available had not airlines identified unmet demand at Clinton National, largely through years of work by airport staff members, Pickering said.
"Little Rock has been following the broader trend of the industry," he said. "There's been growth, which is great. Carriers have been profitable so they are able to invest in new aircraft and new routes so I think Little Rock is a reflection of that. But there's a lot that goes into those business decisions. It's not without a lot of effort" by airport staff.
Pickering called Frontier a "good case study." It pulled out of Little Rock after it changed its strategy. It switched from using small regional jets for daily service to larger Airbus aircraft using less than daily service.
It took a "multiyear effort and multiple meetings" to make a case for the airline's return, he said.
Airport staff members identified as many as 10 extra people a day flying to Denver only to connect to Spokane, Wash.
The increased passenger traffic likely stemmed from timber industry activity, according to Pickering. "You typically don't see Spokane, Wash., in one of the top markets in and out of an area like Little Rock. But there were ties between the two communities."
Those ties likely were related to the timber industry, he said. Among other things, Potlach Corp., based in Spokane completed a merger with Deltic Timber Corp. almost a year ago. Deltic is based in El Dorado, but has land holdings in the Chenal area of Little Rock.
"The [airline] industry is highly competitive," Pickering said. "Typically airlines have more routes they could fly than they do aircraft. You have to have a pretty strong compelling reason.
"An airline when they come in to do service, it's a multimillion [dollar] investment. They are taking a lot of financial risk so they want to make sure they get it right."
It helps that Clinton National has a "good mix" of airlines, which include American, Delta, Southwest and United, the nation's four largest airlines, according to Pickering.
"If you've got the big four, you are well served," he said.
Low-cost airlines such as Frontier, Allegiant and Via help keep costs competitive, Pickering added.
But the demand has to be there.
"The economy in Little Rock is doing well," Mathieu said. "I don't think it ever was bad. The economy overall in the nation is doing well. When people feel good about the economy and where they fit into it, I think they tend to spend a bit more and maybe take that trip over the holidays they thought about taking or otherwise not taken."
Sunday Business on 01/27/2019