Fort Smith Regional Airport

This article is about an airport in the United States. For the airport in Canada, see Fort Smith Airport.
Fort Smith Regional Airport
IATA: FSM – ICAO: KFSM – FAA LID: FSM
– WMO: 72344
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Fort Smith Airport Commission
Serves Fort Smith, Arkansas
Elevation AMSL 469 ft / 143 m
Coordinates 35°20′12″N 094°22′03″W / 35.33667°N 94.36750°WCoordinates: 35°20′12″N 094°22′03″W / 35.33667°N 94.36750°W
Map
FSM

Location of airport in Arkansas

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
1/19 5,001 1,524 Asphalt
7/25 8,017 2,444 Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Aircraft operations 41,990
Based aircraft 102

Fort Smith Regional Airport (IATA: FSM, ICAO: KFSM, FAA LID: FSM) is a public use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district of Fort Smith, in Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States.[1] FSM is governed by the Fort Smith Airport Commission as established by the City of Fort Smith, Arkansas. It serves the transportation needs of residents and businesses of Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma. FSM is served by the regional airline affiliates of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. It has a large population of corporate and general aviation aircraft. A full-service fixed base operator (FBO), TAC Air, provides service to general aviation, airline and military operators.

The airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).[2] In 2013, the airport had 82,742 passenger boardings (enplanements).[3]

Since 1953, FSM has been the proud home to Fort Smith Air National Guard Station and the 188th Fighter Wing (188 FW), an Air Combat Command (ACC)-gained unit of the Arkansas Air National Guard. The wing currently flies the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft.

Air Traffic services are provided by the Federal Aviation Administration from an Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower and TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control).

The airline terminal offers efficient operational space, convenience of close to the door parking, complimentary Wi-Fi, wingback seating, and the restrooms were voted the America’s Best Public Restroom in 2005. The Fort Smith Air Museum is located within the airline terminal.

Facilities and aircraft

Fort Smith Regional Airport covers an area of 1,359 acres (550 ha) at an elevation of 469 feet (143 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways with asphalt surfaces:[1] 7/25, the primary runway, is 8,017 by 150 feet (2,444 x 46 m) with dual instrument landing systems and can accommodate the largest aircraft; 1/19, the crosswind runway, is 5,001 by 150 feet (1,524 x 46 m).

For the 12-month period ending July 31, 2011, the airport had 41,990 aircraft operations, an average of 115 per day: 51% general aviation, 34% military, 11% air taxi, and 4% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 102 aircraft based at this airport: 53% single-engine, 21% military, 16% multi-engine, 10% jet, and 1% helicopter.[1]

Past airline service

Historically, Fort Smith was served by Braniff International Airways. In 1965, Braniff introduced the first scheduled passenger jet service into the airport with British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jets with nonstop flights to Shreveport and Tulsa and direct service to Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, Omaha and other destinations.[4] Braniff would later operate Boeing 727-200 jetliners into Fort Smith with direct, no change of plane service to Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Kansas City, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City (JFK Airport) and Oklahoma City as well as nonstop 727 flights to Little Rock, Shreveport and Tulsa during the mid 1970s.[5][6]

Also during the mid 1970s, the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) was operating Boeing 737-200 jetliners and Convair 580 turboprops from the airport with nonstop service to Dallas/Ft. Worth.[6] By the late 1970s, Frontier had added Boeing 737-200 jet flights nonstop to Little Rock and Tulsa with direct one stop 737 service to Memphis and Oklahoma City in addition to nonstop 737 jet flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth.[7] During the early 1980s, Frontier was flying nonstop Boeing 737-200 jet service to Atlanta and Wichita.[8] The 737 flights to Wichita also provided one stop direct service to Denver. At this same time, Frontier was continuing to operate nonstop flights to Dallas/Ft. Worth with Convair 580 turboprops. Frontier began serving Fort Smith in 1967 when it acquired Central Airlines which had operated flights from the airport for many years. At the time of the merger with Frontier in 1967, Central was providing service from Fort Smith to Dallas/Ft. Worth, Kansas City, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Tulsa and other destinations with Convair 600 turboprops and Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft.[9] Frontier then continued to serve these destinations from Fort Smith.[10]

In the 2000s, Delta added a flight to Atlanta in 2007. However, the merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines caused Fort Smith to temporarily lose it's Atlanta flight, bringing the number of cities served down to just two: Dallas/Ft. Worth and Memphis.[11] In June 7, 2012, service to Atlanta was restored with a single daily flight. Later than year, Delta terminated Memphis service on September 5th, but kept the same number of flight into Fort Smith by increasing service to Atlanta to three flights a day.[12] American Eagle operated ATR-72 turbo-prop aircraft until late 2000s when it switch to jets.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service:

Airlines Destinations
American Eagle Dallas/Fort Worth
Delta Connection Atlanta

Currently, regional jets are used on all scheduled passenger airline flights serving Fort Smith. American Eagle operates Embraer ERJ-145 twin jets while Delta Connection flies Canadair CRJ-200 twin jets.

Statistics

Passenger Boardings by Year (from FAA data)[13]

Year Passengers Percent Change
1999 102,583
2000 99,493 Decrease -3.01%
2001 90,311 Decrease -9.23%
2002 85,137 Decrease -5.73%
2003 89,510 Increase 5.14%
2004 90,613 Increase 1.23%
2005 100,546 Increase 10.96%
2006 93,795 Decrease -6.71%
2007 97,344 Increase 3.78%
2008 85,095 Decrease -12.58%
2009 76,401 Decrease -10.22%
2010 83,902 Increase 9.82%
2011 84,136 Increase 0.28%
2012 84,751 Increase 0.73%
2013 82,742 Decrease -2.37%

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 FAA Airport Master Record for FSM (Form 5010 PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. Effective May 31, 2012.
  2. ↑ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF, 2.03 MB). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010.
  3. ↑ "All Airports with CY 2013 Enplanements" (PDF, 204 KB). . Federal Aviation Administration. January 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ http://www.60sairlineantiques.net/main-pages.timetable.htm/, Sept. 7, 1965 Braniff International system timetable
  5. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com/, Oct. 27, 1974 Braniff International system timetable
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Feb. 1, 1976 edition, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Fort Smith flight schedules
  7. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com/, March 2, 1977 Frontier Airlines system timetable
  8. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com/, April 1, 1981 Official Airline Guide (OAG) Fort Smith flight schedules
  9. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, July 1, 1967 Central Airlines system timetable
  10. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, Oct. 29, 1967 Frontier Airlines system timetable
  11. ↑ "Fort Smith airport to lose Delta connection to Atlanta". The City Wire. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Aric Mitchell (26 June 2012). "Atlanta to be hub for all Fort Smith Delta flights". The City Wire. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Passenger Boarding (Enplanement) and All-Cargo Data for U.S. Airports Airports". Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved 15 March 2015.

External links