American Airline Cuts to Impact Local Flights

Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport is among the airports to be impacted by flight cancellations in recent days by American Airlines as the carrier failed to reach an agreement with the pilots’ union.

FlightTracker.com indicates three flights were canceled Wednesday (Sept. 19), one day after the bankrupt airline announced plans to trim its flight schedule by 2% through October. The flights canceled at XNA were direct to New York, Chicago and Dallas. The connector flights on the New York and Chicago flights were also canceled.

American Airline spokeswoman Andrea Huguely confirmed Wednesday, “It won’t effect XNA everyday. Just a one here and there. We have proactively reached out to our customers and have notified our customers if their flight was affected.”

Huguely said XNA and Fort Smith Regional primarily use Eagle flights that are operating with no issues. Two of three flights canned Wednesday out of XNA were on American Eagle, according to FlightTracker.com.

“XNA has a few American flights, but the impact is very minimal,” she added.“

John Parker, director at Fort Smith Regional Airport, said he has not been notified of any cancellations or schedule changes on the four daily American Eagle flights from Fort Smith to Dallas.

XNA Airport Director Kelly Johnson said Wednesday, “We are an important market to American Airlines and American Eagle. We may be affected at some point, but I have been told of no immediate changes.”

A local banker said he was notified this week by the airline his outbound flight Friday, Sept. 21, had been canceled out of XNA. He said the airline would not refund his ticket but he was able schedule an alternate flight.

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