Fort Smith Regional Airport is a public use joint civil–military

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located near the Interstate 540 freeway three

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today t ...

s (6 km) southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...

of Fort Smith, in

Sebastian County, Arkansas Sebastian County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 125,744, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arkansas. The county has two county seats, Greenwood and Fort Smith. Sebasti ...

, United States. 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 Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. FSM is currently served by American Eagle, the regional airline affiliate of

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

. It has a large population of corporate and general aviation aircraft. A full-service

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction ...

(FBO), TAC Air, provides service to general aviation, airline, and military operators. The airport is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''primary commercial service'' airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year). In 2013, the airport had 82,742 passenger boardings (enplanements). Since 1953, FSM has also been the home to Fort Smith Air National Guard Station and the Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Wing (188 WG). Formerly a fighter wing that previously operated

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American Tandem#Aviation, tandem two-seat, twinjet, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic aircraft, supersonic jet interceptor aircraft, interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed ...

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

, and

A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic ...

aircraft, the 188th Wing currently features three primary mission sets: Remotely Piloted Aircraft (MQ-9 Reaper); ISR (Distributed Ground Station-Arkansas); and Targeting (Space-Focused). Air traffic services are provided by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

(FAA) from an air traffic control (ATC) tower and TRACON (terminal radar approach control). The Fort Smith Air Museum is located within the terminal.

Facilities and aircraft

Fort Smith Regional Airport covers an area of 1,359 acres (550 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vertic ...

of 469 feet (143 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the ''arith ...

. It has two

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, ...

s with

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surfaces: 8/26, 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; 2/20, the

crosswind A crosswind is any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel. This affects the aerodynamics of many forms of transport. Moving non-parallel to the wind's direction creates a crosswind component on the object and th ...

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 General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 34%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

, 11%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, and 4% scheduled commercial. At that time there were 102 aircraft based at this airport: 53% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

, 21%

, 16% multi-engine, 10% jet, and 1%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

Historical airline service

Fort Smith was first served by

Braniff International Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

and Mid-Continent Airlines with both airlines commencing service to the airport in the mid 1940s. Braniff began serving Fort Smith with

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper versi ...

aircraft flying a daily round trip routing of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

- Colorado Springs-

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

- Muskogee, OK- Fort Smith, AR-

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Memphis, TN Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-most ...

and later operated Convair 340 and

Convair 440 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inr ...

propliners as well as

Lockheed L-188 Electra The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flown in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner built in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes that led to expensiv ...

turboprops and

British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...

jets followed by

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and produc ...

jetliners into the airport. By the early 1950s, Braniff had entered into an interchange flight agreement with

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

to extend its Denver-Memphis route south and east to

Birmingham, AL Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough Count ...

, and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

with these flights featuring no change of plane through service. In 1952, four engine

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 19 ...

aircraft were flown on the interchange service with a daily routing of Denver-Amarillo-Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis-Birmingham-Atlanta-Tampa-Miami with the return flight from Miami making an additional stop in Colorado Springs before arriving into Denver. By 1966, the Braniff-Eastern interchange service was being operated with a Convair 440 propliner on a daily roundtrip routing of Denver-Colorado Springs-Amarillo-Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis-Birmingham-Atlanta. In 1967, the two airlines were continuing to operate this interchange service between Denver and Atlanta with Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops; however, these flights were no longer serving Fort Smith by this time. In 1965, Braniff International introduced the first scheduled passenger jet service into Fort Smith with

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

twin jets with nonstop flights at various times during the mid and late 1960s to Little Rock,

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is th ...

and Tulsa as well as direct no change of plane jet service to Chicago,

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

, Memphis,

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

and other destinations. In the spring of 1966, the airline was serving the airport with two BAC One-Eleven jet flights a day on a daily roundtrip routing of Minneapolis/St. Paul-Omaha-Kansas City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Shreveport-New Orleans in addition to operating services on other routes from Fort Smith with Convair propliners. By the summer of 1968, Braniff was operating six flights a day into the airport including a daily roundtrip BAC One-Eleven service with a routing of Chicago

O'Hare Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

-Kansas City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Shreveport-New Orleans, a BAC One-Eleven flight operating one way Memphis-Little Rock-Fort Smith-Tulsa-Oklahoma City-

Dallas Love Field Dallas Love Field is a city-owned public airport northwest of downtown Dallas, Texas., effective April 10, 2008 It was Dallas' main airport until 1974 when Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) opened. Love Field covers an area of a ...

, a BAC One-Eleven service operating one way Amarillo-Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis, a

turboprop flight operating one way Memphis-Little Rock-Fort Smith-Tulsa-Dallas Love Field-Fort Worth Greater Southwest International Airport-Houston

Hobby Airport William P. Hobby Airport (colloquially referred to as Hobby Airport, Houston Hobby, or simply Hobby) is an international airport in Houston, Texas, located from downtown Houston. Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport, and was its primar ...

-Corpus Christi, and a Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop service operating one way Houston Hobby Airport-Dallas Love Field-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis. During the 1970s Braniff operated

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpor ...

and

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

jetliners into Fort Smith on routings of Dallas/Ft. Worth-Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis-

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...

and Chicago O'Hare Airport-Kansas City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Shreveport-New Orleans. Both routes were flown with one round trip flight each day.February 1, 1976, edition, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Fort Smith flight schedules According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight sta ...

(OAG), in early 1976 Braniff was still operating four flights a day into Fort Smith, all with Boeing 727-200 jets, with roundtrip routings of Chicago O'Hare Airport-Kansas City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Shreveport-New Orleans, and Dallas/Fort Worth-Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis-Nashville-New York City JFK Airport. All Braniff service to Fort Smith then ended in early 1979 shortly after airline deregulation took affect. Mid-Continent Airlines began service to Fort Smith in 1946, flying a daily round trip routing of Kansas City- Joplin-Tulsa-Muskogee, OK-Fort Smith- Texarkana-Shreveport-New Orleans with

aircraft. Mid-Continent was acquired by and merged into Braniff International in 1952.

Central Airlines Central Airlines was a passenger airline (the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) called it a "local service" air carrier) in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to oper ...

began service to Fort Smith in the mid 1950s with flights on routings of Tulsa-Fort Smith- Hot Springs, AR-Little Rock and Ft. Worth-Dallas- Paris, TX-Fort Smith- Fayetteville, AR-Joplin-Kansas City. Another flight would follow the latter route from Texas but at Fayetteville it would instead proceed on to Ft. Leonard Wood and St. Louis. During the mid 1950s, Central served Fort Smith with

aircraft and would later upgrade their service with

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

piston and

Convair 600 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

turboprop aircraft. In 1967 Central Airlines was acquired and merged into the original

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

which in turn continued to serve Fort Smith using Convair 580 turboprops in addition to

turboprops previously operated by Central with a total of sixteen flights a day operated into the airport with the Convair propjets in the fall of 1967. Frontier soon added

jetliners with nonstop service to

(DAL), Kansas City and St. Louis with daily direct one stop 727 service to Omaha. In the summer of 1968, Frontier was operating six 727 flights every weekday into the airport with two roundtrip flights a day operated on a routing of Dallas Love Field-Fort Smith-St. Louis with a third roundtrip operating a routing of Dallas Love Field-Fort Smith-Kansas City-Omaha in addition to operating twelve flights a day to other destinations with Convair 580 and Convair 600 turboprops for a total of eighteen departures every weekday from the airport at this time. By 1969, Frontier had begun replacing the 727s with

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

jet flights nonstop to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) as well as direct flights to Kansas City via a stop in Joplin and also direct to Denver via a stop in Oklahoma City or Tulsa. In 1976 a multi-stop flight was added on a routing of DFW- Lawton, OK-Oklahoma City-Tulsa-Fort Smith-Little Rock-Memphis using a 737. In the spring of 1981, Frontier was flying nonstop Boeing 737-200 jet service to Atlanta and

Wichita, KS Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

with direct service one stop service to Denver via Wichita with this flight then continuing on to

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

and

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. At this time, the Frontier 737 flight to Atlanta was part of an eastbound routing of Orange County

John Wayne Airport John Wayne Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport that serves Orange County, California, and the Greater Los Angeles area. The airport is located in an unincorporated area of Orange County, and it is owned and operated by the cou ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

-Denver-Wichita-Fort Smith-Atlanta flown every day except on Saturdays with the airline also operating a 737 flight on Saturdays only on an eastbound routing of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County. It is located along the Clark Fork ...

- Billings-Denver-Tulsa-Fort Smith with Frontier continuing to operate nonstop Convair 580 flights from Dallas/Ft. Worth and Fayetteville, AR as well as direct flights from Kansas City, Memphis, St. Louis, Denver and Omaha also flown with Convair 580 turboprops for a total of ten flights a day, two with 737s and eight with the Convairs. The Convair 580s were retired in 1982 and service from Fort Smith was reduced to two 737 jet flights per day direct to Denver with each service making one stop enroute in either Oklahoma City or Tulsa. All Frontier service then ended on October 1, 1984. Scheduled Skyways provided commuter airline service beginning in the late 1970s with nonstop flights to

(DAL) and Fayetteville, AR using

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in Sa ...

commuter propjets. The Fayetteville-based airline, which was also known as Skyways, subsequently added new flights from Fort Smith to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, St. Louis, Tulsa and other regional destinations in the early 1980s as Frontier ended their respective flights with Skyways operating

Nord 262 Nord, a word meaning " north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and telev ...

turboprops on some services in addition to the Metroliner propjets. Skyways was then merged into

Air Midwest Air Midwest, Inc., was a Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificated air carrier that operated under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, and was a sub ...

in 1985 and Air Midwest soon began a series of

code share In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

relationships with several major airlines. Flights to Kansas City began operating as

Eastern Express The Eastern Express ( tr, Doğu Ekspresi) is an overnight passenger train operated by the Turkish State Railways. The train runs from Ankara Railway Station to Kars Railway Station in Kars. The train was the first overnight service east of Anka ...

on behalf of

in 1986 and were then switched to Braniff Express on behalf of

Braniff (1983-1990) Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

in 1988. The Braniff Express service ended in late 1989 when Braniff ceased operations. New service to St. Louis began operating in 1985 as Ozark Midwest on behalf of

Ozark Airlines Ozark Air Lines was an airline that operated in the United States from 1950 until 1986 when it was purchased by Trans World Airlines (TWA). In 2001, TWA was merged into American Airlines. A smaller regional airline that used the Ozark name (a ...

. Ozark was then acquired and merged into

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

(TWA) in 1986 and the Ozark Midwest flights then began operating as

Trans World Express Trans World Express (TWE) was the fully owned and certificated, regional carrier for Trans World Airlines (TWA) and an airline trademark name for TWA's corporation. * Trans World Express - The formerly independent regional airline known as Ran ...

Official Airline Guide In the fall of 1991, Trans World Express service into the airport was being operated by

Trans States Airlines Trans States Airlines was a regional airline owned by Trans States Holdings and headquartered in Bridgeton, Missouri. At the time of its closing, the airline operated flights for United Airlines under the United Express brand. Trans States Airlin ...

with four nonstop

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

commuter propjet flights a day from St. Louis. By 1994, Trans World Express was no longer serving Fort Smith. Metroflight Airlines, a division of

Metro Airlines Metro Airlines, originally Houston Metro Airlines, was a commuter airline that was originally headquartered in Houston, Texas, United States,. Metro subsequently moved its headquarters to north Texas. The airline had an operational base locate ...

, began service to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Fayetteville, AR in 1982 with Convair 580 turboprops. Metroflight would then become the first carrier to operate as American Eagle on behalf of American Airlines in late 1984.

Republic Airlines (1979-1986) Republic Airlines was an American airline formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways on July 1, 1979. Their headquarters were at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in what is now Fort Snelling in unincorporate ...

began providing Republic Express service operated by

Express Airlines I Endeavor Air is an American regional airline that operates as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. The airline was founded as Express Airlines I in 1985 and was renamed Pinnacle Airlines in 2002. In 2012, Pinnacle's parent company filed for Chap ...

(now

Endeavor Air Endeavor Air is an American regional airline that operates as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. The airline was founded as Express Airlines I in 1985 and was renamed Pinnacle Airlines in 2002. In 2012, Pinnacle's parent company filed for Ch ...

) with nonstop flights to Memphis in 1985. In 1986, Republic was acquired and merged with

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

with the Republic Express service then becoming

Northwest Airlink Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-siz ...

and

Saab 340 The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different op ...

turboprops were first used and with service then upgraded to Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets in the mid 2000s. Northwest Airlines then merged with

Delta Air lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wit ...

in 2010 and the Memphis flights continued as

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to oper ...

until 2012 when Delta shut down its Memphis hub operation inherited from Northwest.

operated by

Rio Airways Rio Airways was a regional passenger airline headquartered in Killeen, Texas, United States, and was operational from 1967 to 1987. Rio Airways was initially based in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1970. The air carrier initiated service with three ...

briefly operated flights to Dallas/Ft.Worth (DFW) using

de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, ...

turboprops in late 1985 through early 1986.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) was a regional U.S. airline based in the A-Tech Center in College Park, Georgia, flying to 144 destinations as a Delta Connection carrier on behalf of Delta Air Lines via a code sharing agreement and, as of ...

(ASA) then resumed the Delta Connection service to DFW flying

Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The EMB 120 began development during 1974. While initially conceived as a modular series o ...

turboprops from late 1986 until mid 2001.http://www.departedflights.com, Official Airline Guide (OAG) February 15, 1989; October 1, 1991; April 2, 1995, and June 1, 1999, editions, Dallas/Ft. Worth-Fort Smith flight schedules ASA also operated flights to Memphis in 1985 and 1986 using

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max ...

s. ASA began nonstop flights to Atlanta in mid 2007 using Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets. The Atlanta flights ended in mid 2009 but returned on June 7, 2012, and later upgraded with

CRJ-700 The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from ...

and CRJ-900 jets. The Delta Connection service was also changed from ASA to

. With the merger of

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wit ...

and

in 2010, the Northwest Airlink service to Memphis was changed to Delta Connection but was discontinued on September 5, 2012, after Delta shut down its Memphis hub operation inherited from Northwest. Delta Connection service nonstop to Atlanta was then increased to three daily flights. American Eagle service to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) was initially operated by Metroflight Airlines in late 1984 using Convair 580 turboprops. In 1987 the Convair 580s were retired and the DFW service was then flown with

turboprops through the early 2000s in competition with the

service to DFW. According to the

(OAG), in the late spring of 1999 American Eagle and Delta Connection were operating a combined total of fourteen nonstop flights a day to Dallas/Fort Worth from the airport with American Eagle operating ten flights every weekday with Saab 340 aircraft and Delta Connection (flown by

) operating four daily flights with Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia aircraft. In late 2000 American Eagle introduced

Embraer ERJ-145 The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet, model names EMB-135, EMB-140 and EMB-145) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passenger ...

regional jets, switching all flights to jets by 2003. However, some flights to DFW were later operated with

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed ...

turboprop aircraft on occasion in the early 2010s. By 2016, select flights began operating with larger Canadair CRJ-700 and CRJ-900 regional jets offering a first class cabin. American Eagle also provided nonstop flights to Nashville using Saab 340 turboprops for a brief time in 1993 and 1994 and service to St. Louis was provided in 2002 and 2003 operated by

as AmericanConnection. The St. Louis service was flown with

BAe Jetstream 41 turboprops. On September 1, 2015, Delta Connection switched to using Canadair CRJ-700 regional jet aircraft featuring first class as well as coach seats. At the same time, flights to Atlanta were reduced from three to two flights per day. On January 5, 2016, even larger CRJ-900 jets were introduced. All Delta Connection service to Fort Smith ended in mid 2020 with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic leaving the airport served only by American Eagle with flights to DFW.

Airline and destination

The following

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...

offers scheduled passenger service:

Statistics

Passenger boardings by year (from FAA data)

Top destinations

References

External links

Fort Smith Regional Airport
official website

at the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics
Aerial image as of April 2000
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to provi ...

''
TAC Air - Fort Smith Regional Airport
the

(FBO) * * * {{Authority control Airports in Arkansas Buildings and structures in Fort Smith, Arkansas Transportation in Sebastian County, Arkansas