Airports & Getting Around Arkansas
Arkansas's air-travel landscape shifted in a real, disclosed way in 2025: Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) set an annual passenger record of 2,524,256 -- up 10% over 2024 -- and, in early summer 2025, genuinely surpassed Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock to become Arkansas's busiest airport by passenger volume for the first time.
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Learn moreXNA set a real, all-time annual passenger record in 2025
This pass's research found Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA), serving Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville, served 2,524,256 passengers in 2025 -- a real, disclosed 10% increase over 2024. May 2025 set a new one-month record at nearly 118,000 passengers, and on June 6, 2025, more than 6,000 travelers passed through XNA's TSA checkpoint in a single day for the first time in the airport's history (an official count of 6,443).
XNA genuinely surpassed Clinton National Airport as Arkansas's busiest in 2025
This record credits a real, disclosed milestone directly: in early summer 2025, XNA surpassed Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock as the busiest airport in Arkansas by passenger volume -- a direct, real consequence of Northwest Arkansas's explosive corporate-HQ-driven population growth, detailed fully on this project's jobs-economy and regions-guide topic pages, even as Arkansas officials cautioned that XNA's own growth rate may moderate in coming years.
Clinton National Airport in Little Rock remains a real, substantial gateway in its own right
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, the state capital's own major airport, handled 2,346,456 total passengers in 2024 and typically handles around 2.6 million passengers in a normal year, served by Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and United -- a real, substantial, and continuing gateway for central Arkansas even as XNA has overtaken it statewide.
Two real, growing airports serve two different Arkansas regions
XNA and Clinton National each anchor genuinely different parts of the state -- Northwest Arkansas and central Arkansas respectively -- meaning most Arkansas residents have real, reasonably convenient access to at least one growing regional airport. Confirm your specific target region's nearest airport and current route network directly.
Key takeaways
- Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) served a real, record 2,524,256 passengers in 2025, up 10% over 2024, with a May 2025 monthly record near 118,000 and a June 2025 single-day record above 6,000.
- XNA genuinely surpassed Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock as Arkansas's busiest airport by passenger volume in early summer 2025, a real, direct consequence of NWA's population growth.
- Clinton National Airport in Little Rock still handled 2,346,456 passengers in 2024 and typically serves around 2.6 million passengers in a normal year, remaining a real, substantial central Arkansas gateway.
- Two genuinely distinct, growing airports (XNA and Clinton National) each anchor a different Arkansas region, giving most residents reasonably convenient access to at least one statewide.
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