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Big News For Little Rock National Airport


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Excerpts from kthv.com story

Homeowners Near Airport Prepare To Move

Airport leaders are trying to expand and grow the facility. But to do that, they need more land, and that involves using eminent domain to take people's homes.

Dr. Carl Johnson, Chairman of the Airport Commission says, "It's always tough when you try to move masses of people from one area to the next. You

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Excerpts from kthv.com story

Homeowners Near Airport Prepare To Move

Airport leaders are trying to expand and grow the facility. But to do that, they need more land, and that involves using eminent domain to take people's homes.

Dr. Carl Johnson, Chairman of the Airport Commission says, "It's always tough when you try to move masses of people from one area to the next. You

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Well that shows the good thing about XNA here in northwest Arkansas. They built it well away from everything, so it's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. But, that means it has lots of area to grow, which it is doing. It won't be too long before the area grows outward towards it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well that shows the good thing about XNA here in northwest Arkansas.  They built it well away from everything, so it's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.  But, that means it has lots of area to grow, which it is doing.  It won't be too long before the area grows outward towards it.

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LR National's been there since the 1940s and is just a couple of miles from downtown. XNA is out in the country now but the way Benton Co's growing it won't be for long.

The area around the airport is quite impoverished. It's an area it might be better to break up as the crime rate is as high as any part of Little Rock.

As for XNA, outgrowing Little Rock National, the numbers aren't that great for XNA in comparison. The main problem is XNA is surrounded by Springfield-Branson, Tulsa, and Little Rock which are larger airports and have more service and cheaper flights. XNA is reliant on the area's growth as well as Wal-Mart's business travelers which no doubt justifies its existance and will sustain it. Little Rock's airport services a huge section of rural Arkansas which is the main reason it is so much larger.

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LR National's been there since the 1940s and is just a couple of miles from downtown.  XNA is out in the country now but the way Benton Co's growing it won't be for long.

The area around the airport is quite impoverished.  It's an area it might be better to break up as the crime rate is as high as any part of Little Rock.

As for XNA, outgrowing Little Rock National, the numbers aren't that great for XNA in comparison.  The main problem is XNA is surrounded by Springfield-Branson, Tulsa, and Little Rock which are larger airports and have more service and cheaper flights. XNA is reliant on the area's growth as well as Wal-Mart's business travelers which no doubt justifies its existance and will sustain it. Little Rock's airport services a huge section of rural Arkansas which is the main reason it is so much larger.

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That is true, even if XNA is growing faster than Little Rock, Little Rock's airport is already so much bigger and has a big lead on it. I don't know if XNA will outgrow Little Rock. But I can say that there are direct flights out of XNA that Little Rock doesn't have. But yes much of it is based around business travelers, although I think slowly more and more tourist travel is starting to develop. Even if this area keeps growing at the rate we are I still think Little Rock will have advantages because of it's central location. We're too close to Tulsa to be able to have a large radius of use from people in the surrounding areas.

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We're too close to Tulsa to be able to have a large radius of use from people in the surrounding areas.

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I think this is the key thing many people in NWA miss. For the same reason, the medical community in NWA will never be like that in Central Arkansas because the patient load comes from areas as much as 3 hours away. It has to do with places like Hot Springs, Searcy, Conway, Russelville, and Pine Bluff more than Little Rock itself. There are only 365k people in Pulaski Co but there are a million within 60 miles of Little Rock.

XNA really needs a low cost carrier to bring down prices and they keep getting rebuffed by Southwest. Rumor is that Air Tran is looking and since they just signed a long term agreement with Southwest to share transfers, etc that could bode well for prices at XNA.

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Getting to the "Big Easy" is Easier Than Ever

7/26/2005

Delta Connection begins non-stop service between Little Rock, Ark., New Orleans on Sept. 13

Also offers two additional flights between New Orleans and Orlando

NEW ORLEANS, July 26, 2005

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I think this is the key thing many people in NWA miss.  For the same reason, the medical community in NWA will never be like that in Central Arkansas because the patient load comes from areas as much as 3 hours away.  It has to do with places like Hot Springs, Searcy, Conway, Russelville, and Pine Bluff more than Little Rock itself.  There are only 365k people in Pulaski Co but there are a million within 60 miles of Little Rock.

XNA really needs a low cost carrier to bring down prices and they keep getting rebuffed by Southwest.  Rumor is that Air Tran is looking and since they just signed a long term agreement with Southwest to share transfers, etc that could bode well for prices at XNA.

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Yeah Southwest hasn't seemed to interested in coming so far, they tend to go to airports with a little more business than XNA.

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Did the story mention what airport in New Orleans the flights would be based out of?

They have been directing some of the smaller planes away from N.O. international to N.O. lakefront airport instead...

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When did they start that? What airlines fly into New Orleans Lakefront?

There was a big stink 10 or so years ago about Southwest wanting to fly into Lakefront airport. The FAA and the neighborhood stopped that one rather quickly.

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Alright, I don't know where else to say this....so I'll say it here.

The Little Rock Airport is nice. Very nice.

After going to the Atlanta airport and Philadelphia airport, I can say Little Rock's is much nicer. True, we did remodel ours (and they are in the process of expanding it). But ours looks so much more modern and well kept. Then again it is smaller.

I was just happy to be back in the natural state back from Philly. Philly is heavily industrialized with huge factories and oil refineries lining the highways. The place is steeped in history, and every section seems heavily developed. Flying into Arkansas, you see the Arkansas River snaking through farmland and forests. Green. You arrive in the small airport and immediately get a "progressive" image of the state. It's cleaner and fancier, plus the skyline is right outside the window.

Anyways.

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Alright, I don't know where else to say this....so I'll say it here.

The Little Rock Airport is nice. Very nice.

After going to the Atlanta airport and Philadelphia airport, I can say Little Rock's is much nicer.  True, we did remodel ours (and they are in the process of expanding it).  But ours looks so much more modern and well kept.  Then again it is smaller. 

I was just happy to be back in the natural state back from Philly.  Philly is heavily industrialized with huge factories and oil refineries lining the highways.  The place is steeped in history, and every section seems heavily developed.  Flying into Arkansas, you see the Arkansas River snaking through farmland and forests.  Green.  You arrive in the small airport and immediately get a "progressive" image of the state.  It's cleaner and fancier, plus the skyline is right outside the window. 

Anyways.

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It's great to have you back. You have mentioned a few interesting things from the Philly area. Anything else that impressed you up there?

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When did they start that?  What airlines fly into New Orleans Lakefront?

There was a big stink 10 or so years ago about Southwest wanting to fly into Lakefront airport.  The FAA and the neighborhood stopped that one rather quickly.

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There was a thing on the local news about NO international having to many small planes coming in and it was interfering with the flight schedules of bigger planes...so they thought maybe small planes coming from nearby cities(L.R. would fit into this category)

could land at Lakefront airport...i dont know the size of the planes from N.O. to L.R. so i was just wondering

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It's always been a little bizarre that such an important tourist city with international visitors really has a pretty minor airport and isn't a hub.  New Orleans SEEMS like it would definitely be a major hub.

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It was...when N.O. international was first built, it was one of the biggest airports in the country..but now it is tiny compared to other cities(only 2 terminals).

There have been new plans brought up to sell the land on which the current airport is on..and use the money to build a new, better and MUCH bigger airport somewhere around N.O. And if that happens New Orleans will hopefully be a hub.

But anyway this isnt about N.O.

Have flights been increasing into L.R.'s airport, because i think it would work out well for all southern big cities to be connected with L.R. and vis versa. Because I know there will be many New Orleanians(including myself) gettin tickets to go see L.R. And im sure it would be the same for people in Atlanta or Charlotte..

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There was a thing on the local news about NO international having to many small planes coming in and it was interfering with the flight schedules of bigger planes...so they thought maybe small planes coming from nearby cities(L.R. would fit into this category)

could land at Lakefront airport...i dont know the size of the planes from N.O. to L.R. so i was just wondering

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Except for service between airline hubs, probably the majority of new service to any city is regional jet service: 70 seat crj's and such. Mainline jet service--the 737's, 757's, 767's, DC-9's--has been cut back almost everywhere. SW is a different breed altogether since they don't do the hub and spoke deal.

So, unless the local NO news was talking about private planes, the majority of new airline service to NO will be on regional jets, and I can't imagine those shifting to Lakefront.

The reason is expense for the most part--the mainline pilots are generally the high scale unionized pilots. The regional jet pilots aren't.

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I was just happy to be back in the natural state back from Philly.  Philly is heavily industrialized with huge factories and oil refineries lining the highways.  The place is steeped in history, and every section seems heavily developed.  Flying into Arkansas, you see the Arkansas River snaking through farmland and forests.  Green.  You arrive in the small airport and immediately get a "progressive" image of the state.  It's cleaner and fancier, plus the skyline is right outside the window. 

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Nothing wrong with preferring Little Rock over Philadelphia, but let me ask you this, where do you live in Little Rock, the suburbs or the city? And how, exactly, does "cleaner and francier" translate into progressive?

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Nothing wrong with preferring Little Rock over Philadelphia, but let me ask you this, where do you live in Little Rock, the suburbs or the city?  And how, exactly, does "cleaner and francier" translate into progressive?

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I live in Hot Springs. If you're referring to my signature, there was a topic a long time ago about the metros everyone is from. Mith thought I was from Little Rock because I talked about it so much. So I said I might as well put it in my signature since I always visit it.

How does cleaner and fancier give a progressive image? Does it really need to be spelled out? Obviously a nice airport does not mean that a city is progressive, but it certainly gives the perception, which was my entire point. With Little Rock, the nice airport is merely just another piece of evidence to the economic revitalization of Little Rock.

Let's see.

The airport is largely a shiny glass structure with white trimming. There's a brand new parking deck. There are flat screens everywhere, some in the large lobby area to see loved ones arriving in from a plane. The stores, customer care center, etc are new and impressively designed. When walking through the terminal and airport, you are brainwashed with Arkansas propaganda. You see a giant lighted up sign that says companies headquartered in Little Rock by a picture the skyline. In one part of the airport, when heading towards the escalators, there's a huge dynamic billboard type thing with a huge, maybe 30-50 feet wide picture of the skyline of Little Rock skyline at night. The windows in the skyscrapers have lights shining through them. And when you shift your head to the right, there's the actual little rock skyline through the windows that make up the 50 feet walls. It's landscaped around the airport and not choked by concrete. There's some small fountains at the entrance and landscaping. There's bronze art structures outside. Etc etc etc.

The airport certainly gives a good first impression of LR and the state.

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It was...when N.O. international was first built, it was one of the biggest airports in the country..but now it is tiny compared to other cities(only 2 terminals).

There have been new plans brought up to sell the land on which the current airport is on..and use the money to build a new, better and MUCH bigger airport somewhere around N.O. And if that happens New Orleans will hopefully be a hub.

But anyway this isnt about N.O.

Have flights been increasing into L.R.'s airport, because i think it would work out well for all southern big cities to be connected with L.R. and vis versa. Because I know there will be many New Orleanians(including myself) gettin tickets to go see L.R. And im sure it would be the same for people in Atlanta or Charlotte..

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Little Rock's traffic has been steadily on the rise for the last 2 years. In that time, they have added destinations to Denver, Newark, Orlando, MSP, Detroit, and others. Here's a destination map... New Orleans to be added soon...

lrna_usa_map_lines.gif

*For some reason I can't get the US map to show up under the animation* :wacko:

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Little Rock's traffic has been steadily on the rise for the last 2 years.  In that time, they have added destinations to Denver, Newark, Orlando, MSP, Detroit, and others.  Here's a destination map... New Orleans to be added soon...

lrna_usa_map_lines.gif

*For some reason I can't get the US map to show up under the animation*  :wacko:

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I'm really surprised they didn't have new orleans........... I guess my sister stopped in dallas whenever she flew up from new orleans.

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Little Rock's traffic has been steadily on the rise for the last 2 years.  In that time, they have added destinations to Denver, Newark, Orlando, MSP, Detroit, and others.  Here's a destination map... New Orleans to be added soon...

lrna_usa_map_lines.gif

*For some reason I can't get the US map to show up under the animation*  :wacko:

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Well thats really nice to see, espesially for the LR area. No more connecting flights to New York or Orlando or anywhere like that.

Has tourism gone up since all of those flights were added to the airport?

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Now I can try to compare cities that XNA and Little Rock handle. At XNA we have direct flights to these cities. Los Angeles, Houston, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Denver, Dallas-Ft Worth, Minneapolis, St Louis, Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, Charlotte, Newark, Atlanta, and New York. We don't have Baltimore, Orlando, Phoenix or Las Vegas that Little Rock has. Looks like the only one that XNA has that Little Rock doesn't is Los Angeles.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now I can try to compare cities that XNA and Little Rock handle.  At XNA we have direct flights to these cities.  Los Angeles, Houston, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Denver, Dallas-Ft Worth, Minneapolis, St Louis, Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, Charlotte, Newark, Atlanta, and New York.  We don't have Baltimore, Orlando, Phoenix or Las Vegas that Little Rock has.  Looks like the only one that XNA has that Little Rock doesn't is Los Angeles.

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Well scratch that, XNA has just announced they will start having direct flights to Orlando now. Which brings us closer to offering more of what Little Rock can offer. I also heard on the local news that XNA is the 14th fastest growing airport in the country.

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