Big News For Little Rock National Airport

[Aporkalypse]

Coca-Cola itself? As in the headquarters?

I'm not calling you out, but I can't imagine that. Coca-Cola has a long, strong history in Atlanta. Crazier things have happened, and I would love it if it did, but I'll be hoping for a large support facility.

[theman]

Back on topic:

My son noticed a mainline USAirways taking off today from LIT (Airbus A320). Flight tracker indicated it arrived from DCA (Reagan National in Washington DC) as flight 9118 and departed for Charlotte as flight 9225. My wife noticed in on the arrival/departure screens in the airport. I wonder if this was some type of special charter, or a test run for future mainline service?

Its not unusual for unscheduled arrivals/departures periodically for one reason or another, but its pretty odd since it showed up on the arrival/departure screens in the airport. I've actually emailed the airport to ask them what it was.

[theman]

Several weeks ago, I read that the Coca-Cola facility would be a large bottler/distributor, as the company refocuses on regionalization. Coke was sniffing around the Little Rock area for a site to place this facility, but other out-of-state locales were in the running. I believe Tulsa was mentioned.

Another potential manufacturer rumored for the LR Port area is a windmill blade producer. There was actually a bill going around in the last legislative session that would provide incentives to lure the facility to Little Rock. I don

[Aporkalypse]

I think you are correct in that Tulsa was also in the running for this. I read somewhere recently that Coke was looking in the Tulsa area again. Maybe Arkansas and Little Rock stepped up to the plate and got it here.

I agree with Apork that central Arkansas should also be marketed for some of these super projects. The port has plenty of land and with the river, I-440, the airport and rail right there together there is no reason why Little Rock is not a more of a distribution and manufacturing hub

[ARtoAK]

Back on topic:

My son noticed a mainline USAirways taking off today from LIT (Airbus A320). Flight tracker indicated it arrived from DCA (Reagan National in Washington DC) as flight 9118 and departed for Charlotte as flight 9225. My wife noticed in on the arrival/departure screens in the airport. I wonder if this was some type of special charter, or a test run for future mainline service?

Its not unusual for unscheduled arrivals/departures periodically for one reason or another, but its pretty odd since it showed up on the arrival/departure screens in the airport. I've actually emailed the airport to ask them what it was.

[RyanA]

I agree that the LR port/airport is an ideal intermodal location with abundant cheap land. I think the state has been so focused on helping the delta that it has ignored better sites. Marion has some issues and I'd rather see a facility at the LR port anyway, at least you would know that all of the jobs your millions in taxpayers incentives create would go to Arkansans. I bet 3/4 of Marion jobs would be to TN and MS residents. I think the new ADEC has a different attitude and is considering this fact based on some things I've heard and read.

[RLucas83]

There was also another USAirways A320 that went in from DCA this past weekend I believe. Very interesting indeed...

[Architect]

9XXX flight numbers are typically charters.... airlines dont run "test flights"

The first flight was the charter to/from (one empty leg) and the 2nd flight was the other. Either a sports team or a charter group.

[ARtoAK]

I knew it was a charter but I've never heard of USAirways charter flights to LIT. Ususally its Miami Air or World or some other charter...whateva...

[swake]

Several weeks ago, I read that the Coca-Cola facility would be a large bottler/distributor, as the company refocuses on regionalization. Coke was sniffing around the Little Rock area for a site to place this facility, but other out-of-state locales were in the running. I believe Tulsa was mentioned.

Another potential manufacturer rumored for the LR Port area is a windmill blade producer. There was actually a bill going around in the last legislative session that would provide incentives to lure the facility to Little Rock. I don

[Aporkalypse]

Tulsa has a new Coca-Cola customer service center:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...23/ai_n18759147

And a new wind turbine manufactoring plant:

http://newsok.com/article/3048491

Not to mention Google, Gannett and Gatorade

[arkansas_buff]

Did we already talk about the Dassault Falcon expansion? If we did, I missed it. This is from a press release on June 7th...

• 116,000 sq ft of additional production, design and warehouse space.

• $20,000,000 project cost

• 2008 completion

• 200 new jobs

• 827,000 sq ft total space upon completion

The Dassault plant in LR (although not the HQ) is the largest facility they have with over 2K employees.

They will be finishing out the new Falcon 7X w/ 165 firm orders as of last week.

[sleepy]

This I realize. However, it is a hub non the less. FedEx set up shop in Memphis in '73. Twelve years later, Republic Airlines would create a hub there. One year later ('86), Republic Airlines was bought out and became Northwest. I'm sure the expansion due to FedEx had a lot to do with Republic's decision to locate a hub in MEM, which is one of the smallest cities in the US with a major airline hub.

[theman]

Nobody has mentioned this. In the Ar Dem Gaz the other day there was an article talking about the airport forming its own police force. It seems that the airport is closer to making this step which is long overdue. Having their own department will give the airport the flexibility to do what they want with their officers without having to deal with the city. This is important with the security changes that comes from time to time.

[theman]

Mayor Stodola was on the "Show With No Name" on Friday morning. We said that a major economic development announcement would be made this week (Dassault Falcon) and that two more would be made in the next couple of weeks. Of course he wouldn't eloborate.

[Architect]

Nothing to do with Little Rock National, but I guess the second of the three annoucements will be the building of a $80 million plant by Welspun Pipes that will be built at the Port of Little Rock. It would be the largest industial investment ever made in Little Rock.

[northernbizzkit1]

I don't see FedEx going anywhere. Construction on an expansion of the world headquarters and new hangars are underway right now... in Memphis.

Speaking of Memphis, don't forget a few other big names... such as Auto Zone, International Paper, Fred's Stores, ServiceMaster, Northwest Airlines and Back Yard Burgers. However, I must remind myself that it is FedEx who makes MEM the busiest cargo airport IN THE WORLD! Without it, I wonder if NWAirlines would have located a hub there???

[Architect]

I know this is from more than a month ago, but I want to straighten a few things out about MEM on this thread. Sleepy did for the most part; however, there are a few things that have been falsely stated. Northwest did not locate a hub to MEM. MEM is actually one of the oldest hubs in America because it has remained one through various acquisitions. It originated with Southern who was bought out by Republic who was bought out by Northwest Orient. The MEM hub did not originate in the 80s. It was a few decades before that when FedEx wasn't even in TN. And for those to call the MEM hub a "lucky hub" is a little interesting. IMO, the only thing MEM is lucky about is that the airlines that made it a hub had smart business planning in that they didn't create hubs that were four or five hours away from each other. Instead, they built up MEM into the Southern hub for the airline and truly made it an asset to the company rather than something easily as dispensible as the entirely too close AA RDU and BNA hubs.

Furthermore, O&D at Memphis is as low as it is simply because we are a legacy hub. Most of our flights are spiked rather high due to Northwest being the dominant carrier with over 200 flights a day. This has led to many many many customers leaving MEM and driving to LIT and BNA (moreso to LIT than BNA). This is why the Bette Bus was such a popular option (is that thing still around now?). However, things have changed with Frontier entering Memphis. People aren't too sure about the plans because it is one of the first cities that they started with more than service to Denver. Currently flights are MEM-DEN, MEM-LAS, and MEM-MCO, and they are adding frequencies to all of these to the end of the year. Some speculate that MEM will be a focus city for Frontier. In the current Memphis Business Journal, there is an article on this and how it may actually hurt traffic at Little Rock National due to the lack of patrons from across the Mississippi. The reason for all of this is because Memphis is LARGELY underserved in the low-cost market whereas Nashville and Little Rock is on par. I will be curious to see how the 2007 O&D numbers at MEM are simply because I feel they will begin to accurately portray the market.

Also, FedEx is not the sole economic provider to Memphis. We have numerous Fortune 500 companies and even more Fortune 1000 companies. International Paper, AutoZone, ServiceMaster, First Horizon, Sherring-Plough, Hilton IT, etc. all are major business players in the Memphis market and many held a presence in the city when FedEx was just getting on its feet. Therefore, I really don't see the call for if Little Rock hadn't flubbed it by letting FedEx go, Memphis and Little Rock would be in different places right now. One of the major differences would be Little Rock would have a lot more cargo flights than it does. Sure, FedEx has helped the Memphis MSA tremendously, but it isn't our only bread provider.

[northernbizzkit1]

Thanks for posting such a thorough overview norhternbizzkit1! Know that our perspective is skewed from having lost such a grand opportunity...most of us aren't really that familiar with the historical intricacies of the Memphis market, so this is insightful. It will be interesting to see how the influx of Frontier/low-cost carriers affect LR traffic...its been flat for 3 years or so (and essentially matches the traffic from 10 years ago). In sort of a reciprocal comparison, the growth of XNA (Northwest Arkansas) has negatively impacted (to an extent) Tulsa's traffic.

[arkansas_buff]

See a photo from Jason Hamm (a NWA employee at LIT) of the very first 7X from Dassault to roll out of the plant here.

[LIT uPP]

For what it

[Architect]

On my flight back from Chicago O'Hare into Little Rock tonight, as we were taxing around the Little Rock terminal, the lady in front of my wife starts bad mouthing Little Rock's air service to the guys she's sitting next to (as, no kidding, she's looking out the window at an Airbus A319, an MD-80 and a B737)....my wife just looked at me and rolled her eyes. I couldn't hear everything she was saying, but it was "horrible" this and "sorry" that, and then I caught her saying something to the affect of "Northwest Arkansas has MUCH better service than Little Rock."

Since she wasn't talking to me, I didn't feel it appropriate to interject, but what I wanted to say was: "XNA has great service, but compared to LIT, it only serves half as many people, with very few jet-ways, on smaller aircraft, at much higher ticket prices." XNA service is stunning for that market, but it is completely irrational to bad-mouth Little Rock's service in comparison to XNA - or quite frankly, anywhere. Anyone who knows anything about air service knows that Little Rock has fantastic service that exceeds many larger markets, and it has been acknowledged as such.

I guess I should not be amazed at all of the nonsense that gets spewed forth from uninformed people. Yet, I was.

p.s. My father-in-law, who is in top management of a public company (NOT in retail), stated that they've started driving to Tulsa from NWA for almost all of their flights because they could not justify paying $900 for a round-trip to DFW from XNA. $900. To Dallas.

[Aporkalypse]

On my flight back from Chicago O'Hare into Little Rock tonight, as we were taxing around the Little Rock terminal, the lady in front of my wife starts bad mouthing Little Rock's air service to the guys she's sitting next to (as, no kidding, she's looking out the window at an Airbus A319, an MD-80 and a B737)....my wife just looked at me and rolled her eyes. I couldn't hear everything she was saying, but it was "horrible" this and "sorry" that, and then I caught her saying something to the affect of "Northwest Arkansas has MUCH better service than Little Rock."

Since she wasn't talking to me, I didn't feel it appropriate to interject, but what I wanted to say was: "XNA has great service, but compared to LIT, it only serves half as many people, with very few jet-ways, on smaller aircraft, at much higher ticket prices." XNA service is stunning for that market, but it is completely irrational to bad-mouth Little Rock's service in comparison to XNA - or quite frankly, anywhere. Anyone who knows anything about air service knows that Little Rock has fantastic service that exceeds many larger markets, and it has been acknowledged as such.

I guess I should not be amazed at all of the nonsense that gets spewed forth from uninformed people. Yet, I was.

p.s. My father-in-law, who is in top management of a public company (NOT in retail), stated that they've started driving to Tulsa from NWA for almost all of their flights because they could not justify paying $900 for a round-trip to DFW from XNA. $900. To Dallas.

[Architect]

O'Hare is a pain in the rear end.

I won't miss the pain in the ass that traveling from DFW represents now that I'm back. LIT is the easiest airport to use with service as good as any I encountered. My issues are with things that stem from its small size - no sit-down restaurant like Chili's, Friday's etc if you're delayed, fewer nonstop flights than I would like, etc.

[theman]

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette had an article in today's paper saying that Little Rock National is nearing the start of expanding the general aviation runway to just over 6000 ft. Before this can happen 6th street will have to be moved to the north. The airport wants to be able to accomodate the larger business jets that many of the companies in central Arkansas has and to keep them off of the commercial runways.