News in brief

Flyers exceed one million so far at LR airport

More than one million passengers have passed through Bill and Hillary Clinton / Adams Field National Airport in Little Rock during the eight months of 2021, as air travel continues to recover from pandemic lows.

Until August, Clinton National had 1,082,412 passengers, a level it never reached in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2021 total is 62.7% higher than the 641,321 passengers who passed through the airport during the same period last year.

And August’s total – 157,914 – is 99.19 percent higher than the 79,278 passengers Clinton National had in the same month in 2020.

The numbers remain well below pre-pandemic levels.

In 2019, Clinton National had its 1 millionth passenger two months earlier, in June. And the August 2019 total was 191,559, up 21.3 percent from last month’s total.

Northwest Arkansas National Airport at Highfill also continues to see passenger numbers increase. The 705,322 passengers who transited in the first eight months of 2021 were 41.8% higher than the same period last year. And last month’s total – 113,539 – was 122.14% higher than the same month in 2020.

– Christmas Oman

United fined $ 1.9 million for long stays on tarmac

WASHINGTON – United Airlines has been fined $ 1.9 million for 25 flights in which the plane was on the ground for several hours, the largest fine imposed by the government for such long delays.

The Department of Transportation said on Friday that the incidents occurred between December 2015 and February this year. More than 3,200 passengers were trapped in planes without being able to disembark, the department said.

In a consent order, United said most of the delays involved hijackings caused by extreme weather conditions, when the airline is focused on ensuring planes land safely. The airline said these were a small number of the nearly 8 million operated by United and its United Express subsidiaries during the five-year period of the violations.

United was ordered to pay $ 950,000. The airline received a credit of $ 750,000 for compensation for passengers on delayed flights and $ 200,000 for the cost of developing a tool to improve the management of hijacked flights.

Federal rules require airlines to give passengers the option of returning to the terminal if a plane on a domestic flight stays on the ground for three hours – four hours for international flights. Exceptions include safety, security or air traffic control issues.

– The Associated Press

The index rises by 2.94, closes the day at 691.52

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the state’s largest public companies, closed Friday at 691.52, up 2.94.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of December 30, 1997.