XNA Soars To a Record 1.14 Million Enplanements

Lower fares and more direct flights helped XNA surpass a million enplanements, CEO Aaron Burkes said. (Michael Woods)

Northwest Arkansas National Airport celebrated a record year in 2024 and hopes to build on that success even during the uncertain economic environment of 2025.

The airport, best known as XNA for its location identifier, surpassed 1 million annual enplanements in 2024 for the first time since it opened in 1998. The 1.14 million enplanements — a key metric that records how many passengers board a plane at the airport — was a 15.5% increase from 991,489 in 2023.

XNA also occasionally beat its in-state rival Clinton National Airport in Little Rock on a monthly basis. XNA’s monthly enplanements surpassed Clinton National in September, October, November and December.

Clinton National still bested XNA for the year, with 1.17 million enplanements, a 4.8% increase from 1.12 million in 2023.

XNA certainly benefits from being the airport in the center of the continuously growing northwest Arkansas region, but officials have worked diligently to make the airport more attractive to both airlines and passengers.

The airport posted big numbers in spite of near-constant construction to improve facilities, upgrades that are critical because the airport has become so busy.

“I’ll give you the modest answer, which is actually the correct one, and that is, businesses in northwest Arkansas are doing well,” said XNA CEO Aaron Burkes, describing the airport’s strong 2024. “When they’re doing well, more people from those businesses travel out of XNA, and more people from outside the area are visiting those businesses.

“We’re always focused on trying to build organically the demand for air travel. And it’s a little different approach than a lot of airports take. We try to get people to choose XNA first and then the flights will come, instead of trying to get the flights to come here and then hope they fill those planes up.”

Closing the Gap

While some might think Clinton National and XNA are competitors, they aren’t really, because each serves potential passengers in distinct geographical areas.

XNA’s chief competition has historically been Tulsa International Airport, just a 90-minute drive from most parts of northwest Arkansas.

When flights from Tulsa were significantly cheaper than those at XNA, the northwest Arkansas airport lost business because many flyers found the drive worth the flight savings.

That is no longer the case, Burkes said. Tulsa is still a strong airport with more than 1.6 million enplanements in 2024, but it isn’t drawing from XNA’s backyard quite as frequently.

In 2018, Tulsa flights averaged $154 less expensive than comparable XNA flights; by the third quarter of 2024, that gap had narrowed to $11.

“We’ve never been that close before,” Burkes said.

Of Tulsa’s enplanements in 2024, Burkes said just 9.2% came from XNA’s geographical drawing area, which encompasses northwest Arkansas and parts of the Fort Smith area, south Missouri and eastern Oklahoma. When he joined XNA in 2018, Tulsa was drawing more than 20% from the XNA market.

The Lure of Direct Flights

Beyond affordability, XNA now offers more direct flights to desired locations.

When it first opened, XNA was primarily a starting point for reaching Dallas or Atlanta and their connecting flights to destinations around the nation and the world.

As XNA grew, officials worked with airlines to attract more direct flights, and the strategy worked. XNA now boasts six airlines with direct flights to 25 destinations. Allegiant Airlines will soon make that 26 when it adds flights to Gulf Shores, Alabama.

By contrast, Tulsa has five airlines and 23 direct destinations; Little Rock offers six airlines and 19 direct destinations.

Burkes said that the growth in direct flights have attracted a lot of passengers.

“Obviously, people prefer direct destinations over the uncertainty of trying to catch a connecting flight somewhere,” he said.

“It’s a natural consequence of competition,” Burkes continued. “People will drive for a couple of hours if they can get a direct destination, because they’re going to save the layover and all that.”

Recreational Load

For many years, XNA was a good airport for the business traveler, which stands to reason since northwest Arkansas is the home of powerhouse companies like Walmart Inc. of Bentonville, Tyson Foods of Springdale and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. of Lowell. The airport was continually chasing the leisure travelers, parents taking the children on vacation and other travelers more likely to base their decisions on fares.

The decrease in fares over the years balanced out the business-leisure proportion at XNA, although Burkes didn’t have up-to-date statistics on the ratio. The general metrics that show XNA’s strength in its region seem to suggest the balance.

The airport’s load percentage in the past year hasn’t dropped below 75% and has averaged 77% in 2025. Load percentage reflects how full each plane is at takeoff.

The strong load percentage is coupled with more seats as XNA’s growth has encouraged airlines to use bigger planes, which in turn contributes to declining fares. A half-full 50-seat jet doesn’t make a profit unless fares are high enough to compensate for empty seats; a larger plane filled at or close to 80% capacity means that lower fares can be sustainable.

XNA flights offered nearly 5,000 seats monthly in 2025, 37% more than were offered in 2019. “Our load factors are pretty impressive,” Burkes said.

XNA is also beginning to dominate the main population area of northwest Arkansas, the four major cities along the Interstate 49 corridor that runs north through Washington and Benton counties. While XNA draws 74.8% from its entire geographical region, the airport gets approximately 90% of the flyers from the corridor cities of Bentonville, Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers.