LITTLE ROCK — NW airport to regain direct flights to LA
Arkansas’ only nonstop air service to Los Angeles, on low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, is scheduled to return to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport with twice-weekly flights, starting June 7.
“We’re excited to see LA [service] come back,” said airport director Kelly Johnson, who learned Friday that the flights would resume.
“We got a lot of complaints when it went away.”
The Los Angeles flights will serve Northwest Arkansas Regional on Mondays and Fridays, according to Allegiant website schedules. An Allegiant spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
The airline suspended the Los Angeles service on Nov.
11, when Allegiant lost gate space for flights at Los Angeles International Airport.
Allegiant continued to operate flights out of Northwest Arkansas to Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida and to Las Vegas.
Johnson said the Los Angeles flight was Allegiant’s best route at the airport at Highfill, near Bentonville. “It was 90 to 95 percent full,” she said.
- Lisa Hammersly
Drilling-rig count
down 11 for week
Oil-field services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. fell this week by 11, to 1,763.
Baker Hughes, based in Houston, said Friday that 1,327 rigs were exploring for oil and 431 were searching for gas. Five were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, Baker Hughes counted 2,007 rigs. The number of active oil rigs dropped by 13, but that was offset by a gain of two gas rigs.
Rig counts declined after the U.S. benchmark crude dropped 11 percent in September through October. The price fell 7 cents Friday to close at $90.80 per barrel.
“Prices are fairly flat for oil right now,” said James Williams, an energy economist based near Russellville.
“Typically, you see the rig count drop two to three months after the price gets lower.”
Of the major oil- and gasproducing states, Alaska and West Virginia gained one rig each.
Texas declined by eight rigs and California and Louisiana each dropped two.
Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming were unchanged.
- The Associated Press and Bloomberg News
Index slumps 2.05 as single stock rises
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 2.05 to 243.85 Friday.
Bank of the Ozarks fell 1.9 percent in heavy trading.
For the week, 15 stocks declined and one advanced - America’s Car-Mart gained 1.3 percent, and the company also was the only stock to gain Friday.
First Federal Bancshares fell 4.2 percent for the week, while Acxiom lost 3.8 percent.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 25 on 12/29/2012