HIGHFILL -- Northwest Arkansas National Airport continues to see incremental increases in passengers, and the cost of flying out of the airport has fallen during the covid-19 pandemic.
"The rebound trend has been very consistent. Every month since April has seen month-over-month improvements," said Aaron Burkes, the airport's chief executive officer.
The trend looks like it will continue in October, where the airport is down about 63% from last year's numbers based on the number of people going through the federal Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, Burkes said.
"We are also continuing to perform a little better than the nation as a whole which is down 65% from last year," he said.
Enplanements were 25,453 in September at Northwest National, that's off 67% from September 2019, when 77,060 passengers flew out of the airport.
Burkes said he thinks recent studies showing the safety of air travel and the low risk of virus transmission on airplanes is making individuals and businesses more comfortable flying. Leisure travel sustained Northwest National, traditionally a business-centered airport, thorough the summer months.
"Business travel is beginning to come back, more than offsetting the reduction in leisure travel. Businesses can handle a lot of their needs virtually, but some meetings are simply more effective face to face," Burkes said. "And, in some cases, a physical presence is absolutely essential. Those essential meetings have been postponed as long as possible. There is likely some pent-up demand for business travel."
The airport had record enplanement months in January and February, with enplanements up 18.9% and 15% respectively, but traffic fell of by more than one-half in March. April saw passenger traffic off 95.6% from the same time a year before.
Last year, 682,096 people flew out of Northwest National by the end of September. This year, that number was 273,027.
People passing through the Security Administration checkpoint October through last Monday was 21,440, compared to 57,554 in the same period last year, a 62.7% decrease. Administration numbers also include flight crews, so they're always slightly higher than the official passenger numbers reported at the end of each month by airlines.
Mike Lum, with Volaire Aviation, a consultant to Northwest National, said second quarter data from the U.S. Department of Transportation shows the average domestic fare at the airport has declined significantly. On a percentage basis, Allegiant's average fare declined more than the domestic average fare of the other carriers. Typically, Allegiant routes are to leisure destinations.
"While it is obviously disappointing to experience such a large decline in passenger traffic at XNA, residents of Northwest Arkansas who did fly during the second quarter traveled at a dramatically lower average fare of $144 in each direction," Lum said. "Because demand for air travel will be depressed for quite a while, airlines will continue to stimulate demand with low fares and provide both business and leisure travelers with an opportunity to take trips they otherwise would not have taken."
The average domestic fare at XNA in first quarter 2020 was $216 each way, according to Lum.
Destin was the largest domestic market for flyers out of Northwest National in the second quarter of 2020, according to Lum. Last year, New York/Newark, Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth were the three largest domestic markets in second quarter.
New York/Newark ranked 13, Chicago ranked 12 and Dallas/Fort Worth ranked 9 with so little business traffic at the airport this year, according to Lum.
International traffic declined 98.1% at Northwest National, and the average international fare declined 18% to $467 each way, according to Lum. Four of the five largest international markets this year were in Mexico, largely because Mexico was one of the few countries without travel restrictions from the U.S., according to Lum.
Nationally, fares dropped by 27% from $175 to $127 each way from the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020.
The fare collapse speaks to the desperation to fill planes and the lack of business travel, according to Lum.
Delta recently reported third-quarter financials and has lost $11 billion this year, according to Lum. United reported its net loss was $1.9 billion in the third quarter versus a net profit of $1 billion in the third quarter last year. American Airlines on Thursday reported a loss of $2.4 billion and Southwest Airlines lost $1.16 billion in the third quarter. The four largest U.S. airlines have lost at least $10 billion in each of the last two quarters.
A bright spot nationally: More people flew in the U.S. over the weekend of Oct. 16-18 than at any other point in the covid-19 pandemic, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday.
The agency screened 1 million passengers Oct. 18 at airport checkpoints for the first time since March 17, spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said in a release. It also screened 6.1 million passengers at checkpoints nationwide Oct. 12 through Oct. 18, its highest weekly number since the start of the pandemic.
The national screening figures have been climbing slowly, but steadily, since hitting their lowest point in April when several days were under 100,000. At that point, many states had instituted coronavirus lockdowns, air traffic from Europe, the U.K. and Ireland had ceased because of travel bans and U.S. airlines were still several weeks away from requiring all passengers to wear masks.
Burkes said covid-19 has hit some of Northwest National's staff recently, with four cases total.
"Fortunately, no one has gotten seriously ill, and a couple of them would not have even known they were positive if they had not been tested," he said. "Administrative staff are working from home again for the next couple of weeks."
Ron Wood can be reached by email at rwood@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARDW.