The Saturday night line is open.
* TRAFFIC DOWN AT CLINTON NATIONAL AIRPORT: Need some reading? I find the monthly agenda of the Little Rock Airport Commission interesting. It includes details on construction projects (a new restroom, for example); leasing activity (the Truman Arnold aviation company is apparently going to take over the Supermarine fixed base operation, which includes hangars for the Stephens airplanes); airport director Ron Mathieu’s expense reports and travel plans (aconference in Muniich and an air show in England are on the immediate calendar), and the important traffic volume.
The news is that airport traffic continues its historic decline. Passenger count in June was down 4 percent from the same month a year ago; to date, traffic is down 6 percent for the year. Southwest Airlines, once the major carrier, is down 16 percent and that figure could go further as it realigns its flights, making more use of bigger airports and less of Little Rock. Delta and American are nearing Southwest in Little Rock market share.
* CHILI’S DINNER TURNS UGLY: Police were called to a fight that broke out in the Chili’s on Rodney Parham last night. As luck would have it, Assistant Little Rock Police Chief Hayward Finks was an available witness because he was having a family dinner out himself. It seems hair-pulling of a diner set off a scuffle. No arrests. And no explanation for why the hair-pulling happened.