Airports add LA, Denver services

Two airports in the Northwest Arkansas region are adding flights in the late summer or early fall.

American Airlines’ American Eagle will fly six days a week from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, and Frontier Airlines will add additional nonstop flights from Branson Airport to Denver International Airport between September and December.

Kelly Johnson, the director of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill, said Tuesday that the Los Angeles route revives one lost several years ago during an airline-fuel crunch. At its peak, there were two flights per day running between the cities. The new route is expected to begin Aug. 27.

Johnson said the route and six-days-a-week service is important for business travelers, and the airport has been working for years to re-establish the service.

Kent Powell, a spokesman for American Airlines, said that with the addition of the new flight the airline will have 18 flights a day from the airport.

The planes used to fly the Los Angeles route are part of American Airline’s fleet of 47 Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft. It has nine first-class seats and 54 in the main cabin.

Jeff Bourk, executive director for Branson Airport, said Tuesday that Frontier Airlines is increasing its nonstop flights to Denver from four or five days a week to a seven-day schedule from September through December. In addition, a second flight will be added on Mondays and Fridays as demand dictates.

“It’s great to see this growth,” Bourk said.

The new flights will be on the Airbus 319, which has 138 seats. It offers five rows of stretch seating that provide more legroom.

With the new flights, Frontier will offer 39,469seats in the September through December period on its flights to Denver, a 42 percent increase from 27,876 seats for the same period in 2012. Denver is a key hub for Frontier, where passengers can catch connecting flights for destinations farther west.

Southwest Airlines operates two flights to Chicago daily from Branson Airport, and one flight a day to Dallas and Houston, as well as weekly flights to Orlando, Fla.