TEXARKANA, Ark. — The loss of United Airlines and its Houston route have proved to be more boon than bust for Texarkana Regional Airport.
December 2022 holiday travel is projected to increase by 5% over the pre-pandemic numbers from 2019, according to airport records shared last week with the Texarkana Gazette. Airport Director Paul Mehrlich said the increase is partly attributable to expanded advertising following the airport's landing of United Airlines flights in early 2022.
"We started with that United route, really reaching out to people to make sure that they were aware that we had commercial service," Mehrlich said Friday. "At that time, it was trying to push United, but even as they left, we saw this kind of momentum that we had begun and we didn't want to stop."
The effort has paid off for Texarkana Regional and its lone carrier, American Eagle.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day saw dips of 48 percent and 39 percent in bookings, respectively, over 2019. However, Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 were much rosier -- with increases of 58% on the 23rd and 26% on the 26th.
Specifically, the airport reported 111 passengers on Christmas Eve 2019 and 58 in 2022, along with 72 passengers on Christmas Day 2019 and 44 in 2022.
The bookend dates were brighter.
On Dec. 23, 2022, 90 passengers bought fare on American Eagle, which runs a route to and from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where travelers can connect to flights anywhere American Airlines flies. That's 33 more passengers than reported on Dec. 23, 2019.
Dec. 26 showed growth from 110 in 2019 to 139 in 2022.
One of Texarkana Regional's worst holiday showings was Christmas Day 2020, when there were zero fares sold, according to airport records.
New Year's travel figures are being finalized, but early indications are they will follow a similar pattern, with downturns for New Year's Eve and Jan. 1, according to preliminary data.
Mehrlich said the airport's rebounding numbers track with expectations, considering the broader marketing strategy that includes a billboard and spots on social media and other digital platforms.
"The airport itself had not done very much advertising. It sort of was, 'We've been there for 90 years. People either know us or they don't,'" the director said.
The assumption had been that in general, people knew about the airport but chose not to book fare.
Mehrlich said the marketing push also is educational, highlighting the financial good sense of flying to Dallas instead of driving.
"There are some kind of misnomers where folks will look at the ticket price and think that driving to Dallas is going to save them some money, but when they actually work it out, especially where gas prices are getting more expensive, that it's still overall cheaper to use their home airport."
Compared to 2019, when Mehrlich joined Texarkana Regional, the current average fare at Texarkana Regional is about $50 cheaper -- the byproduct of American Airlines' competition with United.
The average round-trip flight to Dallas was about $340 Saturday afternoon on the American Airlines website.
United left Texarkana Regional in September, 2022 because of a lack of market demand and stagnant bookings, Mehrlich said in an earlier Gazette article. Shortly afterward, the airport started talks with American on what could be done to fill the gap and prevent the loss of passengers.
"We spoke with them, and they made the decision to move to the larger aircraft," Mehrlich said.
The transition from the Embraer 145 to the Bombardier CRJ-700 was a move from a plane with three-seat rows to four-seat rows. It also gave Texarkana Regional something new when it comes to service.
"So for the first time, we now have this first-class seating," Mehrlich said.
The airport also plans to court other carriers that use larger jets -- something Texarkana Regional can handle once the jet bridge and terminal are completed in 2024. Breeze Airways, Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines are some of the airlines that come to Mehrlich's mind.
"We do think that there is still an untapped market in our community that really needs those low-cost prices, where they can charge $40 for a one-way flight to a place like Orlando or Las Vegas," Mehrlich said. "We have a large college community and we have a large blue-collar workforce. A lot of people still can't afford those kinds of ticket prices that the legacy carriers charge."
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THAWING OUT
The Christmas weekend arctic blast did not freeze Texarkana Regional Airport's service, but the airport's water system is another matter.
Airport Director Paul Mehrlich said Friday there were zero cancellations over the icy weekend, when temperatures dipped in to the single digits. Only one flight-related issue was reported.
"We ended up with a fuel truck that had a mechanical problem, so one flight ended up having like a three-hour delay," Mehrlich said.
However, water pipes froze in the airport's fire department and the building that formerly housed an airframe and powerplant school, bringing a torrent of work once the weather started to warm.
"In both cases, it was the fire sprinkler system (that) had popped. In one building, we caught it within two hours. Another building, it took overnight for us to get to it, so there was 3 inches of water standing across the whole building."