Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA)

[TRB]

8 hours ago, RemusCal said:

I have heard that AA is has been taking over space intentionally at XNA to block a potential discount airliner from coming in.  I don't understand why the board at XNA just pushes back.  XNA is losing so many travelers to Tulsa.

I'm surprised Walmart hasn't put their foot down and said they demand one for lower prices on Biz travel.  All in all, there is no reason our air ticket prices should be as high as they are.  And we need a discount airliner pronto!

It's called gate squating.  Northwest and then Delta did it at Memphis. And when someone did try anyway,  they'd then undercut them to run them off. AirTran, when they moved in seemed to not care. They were betting on Delta dehubbing and that's what happened. Southwest was happy to have Memphians drive to Nashville or Little Rock till the Air Tran purchase.

 

Southwest is happy to have us drive to Tulsa, LR and to some extent KC and OKC. 

 

If AA is gate squating it's time to revamp the other side and added a coupLe more. Let AA either rent them or someone finally get them. If AA is doing that at XNA, they find it to be a highly profitable station. I'm sure XNA likes having the DCA slot and would hate xto lose a hub connection but this is a growing market so it would foolish to get retalitory on the airline's part.

[jb1087]

XNA could add an official gate to the 12th spot, which is labeled but unusable since there's no jet-bridge.  Unless Delta is in the on the squatting game at XNA, adding that one to their portfolio without adding any flights or giving up another gate would be a pretty big stretch...so it would be up for grabs.  There's no way AA could logically touch that gate if they're really squatting.

Edited July 18, 2017 by jb1087

[TRB]

On 7/16/2017 at 9:37 PM, RemusCal said:

I have heard that AA is has been taking over space intentionally at XNA to block a potential discount airliner from coming in.  I don't understand why the board at XNA just pushes back.  XNA is losing so many travelers to Tulsa.

I'm surprised Walmart hasn't put their foot down and said they demand one for lower prices on Biz travel.  All in all, there is no reason our air ticket prices should be as high as they are.  And we need a discount airliner pronto!

To add insult to injury, Frontier just announced Tulsa and Little Rock

Tulsa gets Denver (boy that's crowded now) Orlando and San Diego

Little Rock got Denver.

Hell Knoxville TN got a Orlando flight

Interestingly enough, Memphis didn't get any with this announcement. Of they think Tulsa can do San Diego, surely Memphis can. 

[jb1087]

4 hours ago, TRB said:

To add insult to injury, Frontier just announced Tulsa and Little Rock

Little Rock got Denver.

We'll see if Little Rock sticks this time.  They tried that route a while back, announced they were suspending it seasonally, and never returned.  Either way, the equipment should be better than the 50-70 seaters that UA uses.

[TRB]

27 minutes ago, jb1087 said:

We'll see if Little Rock sticks this time.  They tried that route a while back, announced they were suspending it seasonally, and never returned.  Either way, the equipment should be better than the 50-70 seaters that UA uses.

A319 or A320

[TRB]

55 minutes ago, jb1087 said:

We'll see if Little Rock sticks this time.  They tried that route a while back, announced they were suspending it seasonally, and never returned.  Either way, the equipment should be better than the 50-70 seaters that UA uses.

UA with it's Hub seems safe. I wonder about Southwest's Denver flights. They were already cheap as well as the UA fares. If Frontier draws from Southwest would they reduce frequency? 

 

He's a sidenote, Denver now has Norweigian providing low cost TATL. You may be able to use the Frontier service from TUL and LIT to catch those flights. I'll have to wait to see the flight schedule.

 

Eventually, they'll start code sharing with someone on this end. Frontier?

[jb1087]

On 7/18/2017 at 6:58 PM, TRB said:

UA with it's Hub seems safe. I wonder about Southwest's Denver flights. They were already cheap as well as the UA fares. If Frontier draws from Southwest would they reduce frequency? 

I can't imagine LIT-DEN isn't safe on UA either, even if Frontier does well, because of the connections that UA provides in DEN and their overall network.  

[theman]

On 7/18/2017 at 6:01 PM, jb1087 said:

We'll see if Little Rock sticks this time.  They tried that route a while back, announced they were suspending it seasonally, and never returned.  Either way, the equipment should be better than the 50-70 seaters that UA uses.

Frontier has a history of leaving then re-entering markets. Of the 23 cities they announced to get service yesterday 18 are cities they are re-entering including Tulsa and OKC.

[TRB]

Frontier once served Drake Field,  kinda the same route they are starting to do again. KC- Stop at Drake-Dallas. Did it with a 737-100 or 200, either way about a 100 seater.

 

Anywho, another reason to fly from Tulsa, Norwegian has announce Paris flights too.

[Architect]

On 7/18/2017 at 6:01 PM, jb1087 said:

We'll see if Little Rock sticks this time.  They tried that route a while back, announced they were suspending it seasonally, and never returned.  Either way, the equipment should be better than the 50-70 seaters that UA uses.

Agreed.  They must see something they like...Boardings are up at LIT this year by about 3%, and by almost 6% last month.  Frontier had a fairly long run originally on A319's between LIT and DEN (until 2014).  Not to mention, Frontier is in a significant expansion mode, with a goal of doubling their network and traffic over the next 5(?) years.

[sasnakrafan]

I've had friends ask me about Alaska Airlines flight out of XNA, is there any truth to this? I did one search online and saw that they start offering flights mid December, but I cant find any press release. I see it going to the major hubs @ DFW, ORD, IAH, and LAX. Just wanted to confirm with anyone in the know and that it wasn't being operated by a current carrier as a 3rd party contractor (which would make no sense). 

Edited November 20, 2017 by sasnakrafan

[TRB]

20 hours ago, sasnakrafan said:

I've had friends ask me about Alaska Airlines flight out of XNA, is there any truth to this? I did one search online and saw that they start offering flights mid December, but I cant find any press release. I see it going to the major hubs @ DFW, ORD, IAH, and LAX. Just wanted to confirm with anyone in the know and that it wasn't being operated by a current carrier as a 3rd party contractor (which would make no sense). 

As far as I know, they offer code shares with other airlines but no directs. It's been rumored before but they have recently had issues with crew shortages with their regional partner, Horizon.

 

I keep saying XNA and MEM would be good places for Alaska where opportunity awaits with airports with growing O&D and lack of Pac NW service.

[jb1087]

21 hours ago, sasnakrafan said:

I've had friends ask me about Alaska Airlines flight out of XNA, is there any truth to this? I did one search online and saw that they start offering flights mid December, but I cant find any press release. I see it going to the major hubs @ DFW, ORD, IAH, and LAX. Just wanted to confirm with anyone in the know and that it wasn't being operated by a current carrier as a 3rd party contractor (which would make no sense). 

They code-share with American, which is why the connections are in those hubs (not sure why IAH would show given that's United).  I searched on their website as far out as next summer and all that is offered is AA leaving XNA and then connecting to an Alaskan flight from those various places.

[Aleck]

XNA has announced that they are adding 2 new gates. Guess bookings have been high

[jb1087]

19 hours ago, Aleck said:

XNA has announced that they are adding 2 new gates. Guess bookings have been high

I saw articles from the local news channels about it.  One was very generic, and the other made it seem like some kind of jet-bridge is being added to the B side, the side that Allegiant uses.  Is there another carrier that would be similar in using that space like Allegiant?  

I would still say the "other" and "nicer" side of the concourse still has open space, with 2 or 3 of the gates sitting empty and gate 12 not even having a jet-bridge attached.  Little Rock gets by with 12 gates (next to arguably 13 at XNA if you count Allegiant's parking spot) and with 50% more passengers.

Edited December 22, 2017 by jb1087

[arky]

On 12/21/2017 at 8:19 PM, jb1087 said:

I saw articles from the local news channels about it.  One was very generic, and the other made it seem like some kind of jet-bridge is being added to the B side, the side that Allegiant uses.  Is there another carrier that would be similar in using that space like Allegiant?  

I would still say the "other" and "nicer" side of the concourse still has open space, with 2 or 3 of the gates sitting empty and gate 12 not even having a jet-bridge attached.  Little Rock gets by with 12 gates (next to arguably 13 at XNA if you count Allegiant's parking spot) and with 50% more passengers.

 

I agree, LIT always seems full and XNA always seems empty. Obviously XNAs massive growth would lead you to think it'd be overcrowded, but it's got more space per passenger than almost any airport I've been to. I love it for that reason, but I wonder why they prioritize number of gates like they do. 

[jb1087]

Allegiant announced that XNA will be getting twice-weekly seasonal flights to VPS (Destin, FL) starting in June.

[TRB]

14 hours ago, jb1087 said:

Allegiant announced that XNA will be getting twice-weekly seasonal flights to VPS (Destin, FL) starting in June.

Now, add Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, Austin and Baltimore

[jb1087]

Think I'm a few weeks late in posting this since the data was published, but XNA's 2017 growth definitely slowed versus 2016.  12 months ending in December y/o/y traffic only grew  3.2-3.3% (depending if you look at arriving or departing).  That's versus ~7% growth in 2016.  (Though up against an abysmal ~1.5% in 2015.) 

Given the various upgauges in capacity (DL in removing CR2s, etc) or added destinations (AA to DCA, etc) with that small of growth number, makes sense that the load factors at XNA were the lowest in 5 years.

[TRB]

On 3/22/2018 at 4:30 PM, jb1087 said:

Think I'm a few weeks late in posting this since the data was published, but XNA's 2017 growth definitely slowed versus 2016.  12 months ending in December y/o/y traffic only grew  3.2-3.3% (depending if you look at arriving or departing).  That's versus ~7% growth in 2016.  (Though up against an abysmal ~1.5% in 2015.) 

Given the various upgauges in capacity (DL in removing CR2s, etc) or added destinations (AA to DCA, etc) with that small of growth number, makes sense that the load factors at XNA were the lowest in 5 years.

As you know, I follow XNA and MEM closely, MEM is still experiencing faster growth in percentage monthly passenger numbers, yet XNA is surrounded by better growth and economic prosperity.

Why? Since transitioning to an O&D airport after Delta dehubbed it, it has seem thirteen straight quarters of decreasing average fares and seen the majors slowly but surely start to upgrade plane sizes. The two airports used to share space in the top 10 most expensive but Memphis has left that dubious honor list. Until XNA lands more than token low cost vacation routes in token numbers the growth will be slowed especially with Frontier now at Tulsa and Branson again.

 

The New York routes from XNA  show what competition does.

 

I flew from Orlando to Memphis last night on one of their 738s. It'll hold 175 and their was maybe 80 folks on it. I said that sounded like bad news, the staff said nope. They overnight those in Memphis as the morning flights to BWI or MDW need the capacity. Those 79 buck late nite, weekday, Orlando fares are just a side benefit.

Edited March 28, 2018 by TRB

[TRB]

This also reminds me to mention that Frontier is now back at Branson BKG(not Springfield). They are also picking up Silver Airways. They are dumping their Saabs for brand new ATR 42s and 72s and expanding out of Florida. So far, we know that Houston, Chicago, and New Orleans will be destinations on 42s. Hints at more destinations from BKG as well. I would not be surprised that they added some MEM and LIT routes to New Orleans as well. Outside of the past Frontier and Airtran/Southwest service they had, this is the first full fledged carrier, not charter operator, they have had and there's some code share with United.

[wmr]

Interesting information.  Thanks for sharing.

[OzarkSingleSpeed]

On 3/22/2018 at 4:30 PM, jb1087 said:

Think I'm a few weeks late in posting this since the data was published, but XNA's 2017 growth definitely slowed versus 2016.  12 months ending in December y/o/y traffic only grew  3.2-3.3% (depending if you look at arriving or departing).  That's versus ~7% growth in 2016.  (Though up against an abysmal ~1.5% in 2015.) 

I wonder if that level of growth is good, bad or indifferent for an airport ... specifically, XNA numbers for 2017  were 1.439 million passengers flew in/out of XNA with enplanements increasing 3.66% to 725,284

Sure doesn't seem to be a priority for XNA to land a low cost air carrier to capture the non-business travelers that leak out to neighboring markets.  Tulsa's always been an option, but over the last few years I've seen co-workers drive from NWA to Fort Smith Regional to save company money.

 

[TRB]

When you search a booking engine like Kayak and include nearby airports Ft. Smith and Tulsa will often pop up. Got to be careful though because sometimes it'll leave from one and return at another.  XNA has often stated that they are losing somewhere around 20% of potential traffic to leakage. That's huge, over 200,000 total passengers and it's growing. Here is an example. A new coworker and his wife relocated from San Diego to here. They make less but are able to afford more house and their commuting costs are lower. It's a net gain in the end. Last week they booked cheap nonstop flights on Frontier to San Diego from Tulsa to go visit friend in few weeks.  That trumped Allegiant to LAX and a drive for them.

 

 

[OzarkSingleSpeed]

1 hour ago, TRB said:

XNA has often stated that they are losing somewhere around 20% of potential traffic to leakage. That's huge, over 200,000 total passengers and it's growing. 

That is a huge number ... I would think trying to capture at least half that leakage would be a priority for XNA.  I suppose to a low cost carrier serving our neighboring markets you're just shifting passengers from one airport to another so XNA would have to attract an airline not currently serving this region.

XNA is certainly surrounded by competition.  These airports with airline service are all within easy driving distance of NWA ... approximate distances to neighboring airports:

• Fort Smith Regional: 66 miles (1 hour drive from NWA)
• Joplin Regional: 76 miles (1+ hour drive from NWA)
• Tulsa International: 100 miles (1.5 hour drive from NWA)
• Springfield National: 100 miles (1.5 hour drive from NWA)
• Branson Regional: 100 miles (1.5 hour drive from NWA)
• Kansas City International: 246 miles (4 hour drive from NWA)

Southwest Airlines is not a carrier I prefer but I do use their service out of Tulsa when going west (ie. Las Vegas for a tradeshow).  I travel to Denver regularly and usually compare XNA and Tulsa prices but so far have continued to make that trip out of XNA.

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by OzarkSingleSpeed