Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA)

[LRguy21]

Will AA ever add back the flights they had pre recession? Not even mainline to Chicago?

Im surprised that Delta hasn't added mainline to Atlanta yet. I know that they have it to smaller cities than NWA metro.

Has southwest ever been brought up as a possibility?

[RAK]

Will AA ever add back the flights they had pre recession? Not even mainline to Chicago?

Im surprised that Delta hasn't added mainline to Atlanta yet. I know that they have it to smaller cities than NWA metro.

Has southwest ever been brought up as a possibility?

There are nonstops to Chicago from AA and United and Delta goes straight to Atlanta. Just checked Travelocity on that score. Perhaps I don't understand mainline, but we get straight flights at least.

Of course, I'd love Southwest. Maybe after the expansion is finished.

Edited February 21, 2011 by RAK

[thewizard16]

There are nonstops to Chicago from AA and United and Delta goes straight to Atlanta. Just checked Travelocity on that score. Perhaps I don't understand mainline, but we get straight flights at least.

Of course, I'd love Southwest. Maybe after the expansion is finished.

The thing is, I don't see Southwest even considering moving into XNA until they feel it justifies mainline service from them- they don't play regional jet game like AA, Delta/NW, Continental, etc. do so it's going to be mainline or nothing, pretty much. They might be able to make it work if they flew to different direct destinations from XNA than Little Rock, but I'm not sure where that would be. XNA's expansion plans are definitely a good thing, and although they're already perfectly capable of(and on some routes, I think justified in getting) mainline service, it just hasn't been mentioned much. Both XNA and LIT are undergoing pretty ambitious expansion plans and have pretty solid volume numbers, so hopefully we'll see air service (in quantity and quality) continue to improve in the state.

[aerotive]

XNA named as the most overpriced midsize airport in the US:

http://fivethirtyeig...fares/?emc=eta1

"Perhaps the most unfairly priced airport in America is Northwest Arkansas Regional in Fayetteville. Economy-class round trip tickets cost an average of $527 there, $158 above fair rates."

Edited April 7, 2011 by aerotive

[zman9810]

XNA named as the most overpriced midsize airport in the US:

http://fivethirtyeig...fares/?emc=eta1

"Perhaps the most unfairly priced airport in America is Northwest Arkansas Regional in Fayetteville. Economy-class round trip tickets cost an average of $527 there, $158 above fair rates."

"in Fayetteville" that's hilarious!

I've heard that it is still cheaper much of the time to drive to Tulsa to fly.

[thewizard16]

"in Fayetteville" that's hilarious!

I've heard that it is still cheaper much of the time to drive to Tulsa to fly.

It's hit and miss, but it is frequently true that with driving, parking, etc. included it's often cheaper to drive to Tulsa or Little Rock to fly, and occasionally Springfield-Branson has some good rates too. Like the article mentions, XNA's prices are probably where they are because the airlines know people fly there for business with Walmart, Tyson, JB Hunt, World Trade Center, UofA, etc. (where time is more important than money, which I will admit are the only times I've flown out of XNA) or necessity, not as much for leisure or convenience. Sure, people do, but before Allegiant was added, almost every vacation I thought about taking ended up with an XNA ticket costing $200+ more per person than other airports within a reasonable drive. I'm a bit surprised to see LIT and MEM on the list, since the last two trips I've looked at it was as cheap or cheaper to fly out of them than TUL or STL, but I guess they do enough high-demand flying to charge the steep fees on some flights too. I think his inference about poverty and the airfares was tenuous at best (and a bit broad since the region he mentions have big pockets of various income levels and lots of disparity), but an interesting read overall.

[Mith242]

I've often heard the remarks about how XNA is so expensive compared to a lot of other airports. But a lot of times I sorta blew it off. I mean I think other airports in larger markets are of course going to have cheaper airfare. But that article did make me take more notice. Even if XNA is going to be understandably more expensive, I don't think it should be excessively so. Part of the problem of course is that if they think they can get away with charging that much they're going to do it. In a lot of cases it's businesses having to pay those higher prices. And with Walmart here a lot of vendors can't simply ignore this area and not fly here. I think at some point XNA is going to have to grow out of this reliance on business travelers. Hopefully eventually we'll get some more reasonable prices in at some point. Which in turn will also help spur some non-business flyers out there.

[slyder1]

I would take this article with a grain of salt... The fact that the Springfield airport wasn't on the list makes me question this article. Our prices are outrageous!! Sure we have Alegiant, but that only goes so far.

[wideloadwhitford]

Hello everyone.

My name is Ryan and I am looking for some new information on the airport and due to my current location I cannot see for myself. I have tried looking online for some new terminal shots but I was confused on the 2 front gates on the original terminal.

Are these two gates still on the terminal currently or are they gone?

Thanks for any new information! Ryan

[kyjimbo51]

The original gates in old concourse A have been closed and relocated to the new concourse.

New nonstop flights to Washington Regan National starting July 11.

[Sammy00]

I went out to pick someone up from XNA a couple days ago.

 

What is all the dirt work that is going on? Another runway?

 

And I obviously couldn't go beyond security, but does anyone have any reviews of the expansion? Was it well done?

[bubba72704]

I think I heard that they have to replace the primary runway.  Apparently there was an error with the materials on the installation of the original runway which caused the surface to degrade when it came into contact with the de-icer they've been using on the runway since they opened it.  Shortened the life of the runway by about 10 years.

[Mith242]

I think I heard that they have to replace the primary runway.  Apparently there was an error with the materials on the installation of the original runway which caused the surface to degrade when it came into contact with the de-icer they've been using on the runway since they opened it.  Shortened the life of the runway by about 10 years.

I'm pretty sure that's what I heard as well.

[Sammy00]

Good news with the announcement of American Airlines service beginning to Los Angeles. 

 

And just out of curiosity, what are everyone's thoughts on the new concourse? I have yet to experience it.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Sammy00

[zman9810]

Good news with the announcement of American Airlines service beginning to Los Angeles. 

 

And just out of curiosity, what are everyone's thoughts on the new concourse? I have yet to experience it.

The new concourse is very nice and roomy. The moving walkway seems like an unnecessary expense, though. The airport isn't large enough to need one.

[TRB]

The new concourse is very nice and roomy. The moving walkway seems like an unnecessary expense, though. The airport isn't large enough to need one.

It's an attractive facility.

[TheyLookUpToMe]

story on KNWA about xna/carriers

 

http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=421132

[TRB]

http://m.bransontrilakesnews.com/mobile/news_free/article_b8e87984-a3a6-11e2-8ab0-0019bb2963f4.html

Article on Southwest out of Branson. Also mentions them adding a daily Frontier flight to Denver.

Branson's airport is private and offers exclusivity to routes to cities.

Edited April 16, 2013 by TRB

[Architect]

http://m.bransontrilakesnews.com/mobile/news_free/article_b8e87984-a3a6-11e2-8ab0-0019bb2963f4.html

Article on Southwest out of Branson. Also mentions them adding a daily Frontier flight to Denver.

Branson's airport is private and offers exclusivity to routes to cities.

 

Still, to this day, I do not understand how TWO NEW airports in the Springfield/Branson area benefited that metro.  Think what they could have done if they had built ONE in between.

 

p.s.  That being said, the available flights and airlines out of Branson is impressive...but still...

[KJW]

How much help is this going to be to XNA?

 

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2013/jul/23/34-million-xna-grant-announced/?news-arkansas-nwa-bentonville

 

I'll be frank...the lack (until now) of interstate progress from the north to the Bella Vista/Bentonville line pales in comparison with XNA, serving a metro area of nearly a half-million people, itself being served by two-lane roads.  It will be interesting to see what they do with this grant, which honestly seems a pittance in this era of trillion-dollar deficits.

[zman9810]

How much help is this going to be to XNA?

 

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2013/jul/23/34-million-xna-grant-announced/?news-arkansas-nwa-bentonville

 

I'll be frank...the lack (until now) of interstate progress from the north to the Bella Vista/Bentonville line pales in comparison with XNA, serving a metro area of nearly a half-million people, itself being served by two-lane roads.  It will be interesting to see what they do with this grant, which honestly seems a pittance in this era of trillion-dollar deficits.

The article says it will be used for taxi lane work and a power sweeper among other uses. Another item to remember is that the new $20 million + concourse was financed about 90% by grants from the federal government. XNA is doing very well for itself in receiving financial help.

[KJW]

According to this article today, XNA may pass 600,000 enplanements this year, putting it on a level with Huntsville, AL.

 

...or at least it would have in 2011, using this list as a comparison.

 

The metro NWA population is something like 502,156 people as of today.  Still thinking that "transportation, transportation, transportation" will be the next big positive change we see as the metro moves past this benchmark, but that's just my opinion.

[burnz34]

Great news KJW. AA started flights with their A319 to XNA from DFW. As well as delta mainline started flights earlier this year with a plane that carries 110 people,and a few months later they changed to a plane that carries 150. In the upcoming months Delta will began two flights daily to Atlanta on mainline planes. American (us airways) started flight to LAX a week ago. Destinations such as MSP, CLT, LGA, and DEN are always full flights, I diffenantly could places like Phoenix, and SFO could start flights to XNA and do WELL. They could even resurrect Salt Lake City, Miami. Southwest airlines would make a great airport out of XNA, with all this increased of air trafic, and they amount of diversity, southwest would do more then just fine.

[TRB]

I recently had to book flights for a trip to Disney World for Feb for four. Allegiant was going to cost around 800 to 900 for a nonstop depending on the whole baggage  and setting together game they play. They only offered Friday and Monday flights meaning it was either a short trip or a 7 nighter. Tulsa had 20 dollar cheaper tickets thru them on the same days , so that was about 160 bucks to drive to Tulsa. XNA's major carrier flights were twice as much or more plus some of the total travel times were 8+ hrs some with 4 hour layovers or two change overs. Springfield Mo's Allegiant flights are comparable to XNA's. Allegiant flies to Sanford, which is fine except Disney doesn't offer their services there like at Orlando International (Magical Express and resort baggage check in for the trip home, yelp they take your bags to the airport for you for free if you want to do something else before getting to the airport) Car rentals are cheaper out of Sanford,

 

I wish the Southwest out of Branson was still an option. They had that nonstop to Orlando on Friday flights but that left you only 7 night options in Orlando.

I've been told that flight had 95 percent capacity and was profitable, it was just a  victim of Southwest's restructuring.

 

I ended up choosing Southwest out of Memphis, the Tulsa flights on Southwest were a connecting mess like XNA's and with 11 and 12 year olds, I wanted nonstops. Memphis has nonstops to Orlando via Southwest now. It was only 840 bucks total for a family of four with free wifi and dish tv plus two checked bags free. It's a bit of a drive to Memphis but I have family there  and that will save us kenneling costs for the dogs plus family will drop us off and pick us up. This allows us to do our 5 night stay in Orlando with out breaking our bank and give us a day in Memphis for a Valentines night out.

 

Maybe there's hope for XNA, since Delta dehubbed Memphis, they are steadily gaining Southwest flights  even US Air/American have added nonstops. Frontier announced 6 days a week nonstops to Dallas and Southwest is adding an additional nonstop to Orlando  on a seasonal basis starting during the next Spring Break period. I could easily see Southwest kinda mini hubbing Memphis with it's many available gates to connect to flights to places like Orlando from cities like Tulsa and even XNA if they really take off in their expansion of international flights. XNA and Memphis shared something in common with extremely expensive flights. The airlines adding main carrier planes is great for XNA, next comes increase flights.

 

Hell, with Southwest in town, Delta's Memphis nonstop to Orlando was only a bit above a 1,000 bucks now.

Edited August 26, 2014 by TRB

[jb1087]

Southwest has historically had a very aggressive business model compared to other low cost carriers.  They go into a city and add 5-7+ daily flights.  They don't operate like Allegiant that may only have 4-6 flights for the entire week.  With their 737's holding ~150 passengers, that would be quite a capacity increase.  

If they were more flexible with scheduling and opening new stations, I would think XNA would be a good possibility.  But if the above criteria needed to be met, it would be a big stretch for XNA to work.