El Dorado–DFW Flights Take Off as Corporate Economy Surges in Arkansas Delta

By the Arkansas Delta Informer Staff

EL DORADO, Ark. – Feb. 2, 2026 – As South Arkansas ramps up multi-billion-dollar investments in the defense, forestry, and lithium industries, corporate denizens traveling to and from the region will no longer have to go to Little Rock, Texarkana, or Shreveport, La., to connect to the domestic and international flights at DFW.

Smyrna, Tenn.-based Contour Airlines recently announced new nonstop service from South Arkansas Regional Airport (ELD) in El Dorado to Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), beginning March 16, 2026. The new route enhances regional connectivity and provides South Arkansas travelers with easy access to one of the country’s largest and most connected hub airports, Contour officials said.

Along with nonstop access to DFW, the new service broadens travel options for passengers by offering convenient connections to Contour’s interline partners—Alaska, American, JetBlue, and United Airlines. Thanks to these partnerships, travelers can easily transfer beyond DFW to destinations across the U.S. and internationally.

“This new service highlights Contour’s commitment to connecting underserved communities with major markets,” said Ben Munson, president of Contour Airlines. “By launching nonstop flights from South Arkansas Regional Airport to Dallas–Fort Worth, we’re giving travelers a convenient, reliable option while maintaining the high level of comfort and service our customers expect.”

“I couldn’t be more pleased for the citizens of El Dorado to have Contour Airlines providing air service for South Arkansas,” El Dorado Mayor Paul Choate said in the statement. “Having dependable jet service will provide stability to our ability to reach any destination we desire. This will be an asset to our industrial community as well.”

The El Dorado–Dallas route will be operated using Contour’s 30-seat regional jet, “offering passengers a comfortable, premium flying experience,” company officials said. Customers will also enjoy extra legroom, complimentary snacks and drinks, and one free checked bag with every fare.

The new regional service offers daily morning and evening flights to DFW, along with early afternoon flights on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Contour will also run one mid-morning flight from DFA to the South Arkansas Regional Airport four times a week, plus two afternoon flights daily to El Dorado Airport.

The new flight service arrives as Fortune 100 corporate giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, RTX, and L3 Harris have all announced major economic development projects that will attract billions of dollars in new investment to the region. (See stories here.)

Contour officials did not respond to requests for comments for this story from the Arkansas Delta Informer. Besides new service to El Dorado and south Arkansas, Contour has ramped up regional nonstop service in recent months to key U.S. domestic hubs, including interline agreements with Alaska, American, JetBlue, and United Airlines.

Additionally, Contour began offering nonstop flights in the Caribbean market in late August, connecting Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Cyril E. King Airport (STT) in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, to Douglas–Charles Airport (DOM) in Dominica. 

Those new routes will offer the only non-stop jet service from Dominica to both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. From these points, passengers will be able to book onward connections to destinations worldwide.

For example, L3 Harris announced last month that it has secured a nearly $400 million contract to manufacture additional solid rocket boost motors and Liquid Divert and Attitude Control Systems (LDACS) for the Missile Defense Agency’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

In early January, Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense (DoD) signed a new framework agreement to increase THAAD interceptor production capacity from 96 to 400 per year. Lockheed is the prime contractor for the truck-mounted, mobile defense system, which is a key element of U.S. ballistic missile defense that uses “hit-to-kill” technology to destroy enemy threat missiles.

Along with the THAAD deal, L3 also broke ground in November with Gov. Sarah Sanders present on its new Arkansas Advanced Propulsion Facilities (AAPF) campus. This large, solid rocket motor (SRM) production site spans 110 acres and is expected to increase SRM manufacturing capacity by six times. All told, L3 Harris

The East Camden industrial site, which spans parts of Calhoun and Ouachita counties in south Arkansas, also could be impacted by the Pentagon’s unusual, and first-of-its-kind, initial public offering to invest in L3Harris’ Missile Solutions business through a $1 billion convertible preferred security.

L3Harris said it intends to pursue the IPO in the second half of 2026, creating a newly traded public company “focused on delivering critical propulsion systems at unprecedented speed and scale.”

Since acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne three years ago for $4.7 billion, L3Harris has stated that it will make significant investments to transform and expand its production operations in Camden, bringing together all its capabilities to support offensive and defensive missile systems.

In addition to Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and RTX are among the so-called “big five” defense tenants at the Highland Industrial Park in East Camden that receive the largest share of the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion annual budget. A year ago, U.S. Army and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems announced the opening of a new load, assemble, and pack (LAP) facility for 155 mm high-explosive artillery projectiles at the Highland Industrial Park.

That 155 mm artillery facility represents an $110 million investment for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and is expected to create 185 new jobs at the Calhoun County manufacturing site. At Highland, General Dynamics operations house over 880,000 square feet of manufacturing and storage space and over 100 workers support various U.S. military programs, including the Hydra-70 2.75-inch rocket, Hellfire and Javelin missiles, the Modular Artillery Charge System, and various mortar munitions.

South Arkansas’s lithium boom could also become a major source of critical elements by U.S. manufacturers and the defense industry, according to a recent story by the Arkansas Delta Informer. Although not classified as one of the 17 rare earth minerals, the Smackover Formation, which stretches across several counties in south Arkansas, has an estimated 5-19 million tons of lithium reserves, according to a highly regarded study published in late 2024 by the US Geological Survey.

If commercially recoverable, this amount of lithium could satisfy the projected 2030 global demand for lithium in car batteries nine times over. After announcing strategic deals in 2025 to secure strong leasehold positions in the Smackover Formation in south Arkansas, ExxonMobil and Chevron, the nation’s largest oil and gas conglomerates, are planning to spend potentially billions of dollars to develop lithium resources in the region in 2026.

Besides the defense and lithium industries, El Dorado and south Arkansas remain home to three other Fortune 500 companies connected to the Murphy family. After growing into one of the country’s largest independent oil and gas firms, El Dorado-based Murphy Oil spun off its timberland assets and its marketing and retail operations before relocating its corporate headquarters to Houston in 2020.

In 1996, Murphy split off its Deltic Timber business into a public traded company that has since been acquired twice but retains a strong presence in El Dorado and south Arkansas. In October 217, Deltic Timber was acquired by Spokane, Wash.-based Potlatch Corp. in a $3.3 billion deal.

In late January, shareholders of Rayonier Inc. and PotlatchDeltic officially approved the two timberland real estate giants’ $8.2 billion merger. The so-called “merger of equals,” expected to close after market hours on Jan.30, creates a timber powerhouse with deep roots and massive acreage across Arkansas.

The merger is a “watershed moment” for the industry, according to company leadership, bringing together two of the largest timberland owners in the Natural State. The combined entity, with offices in El Dorado and Little Rock will manage approximately 4.2 million acres of timberland nationwide. Crucially for the Arkansas Delta and surrounding regions, nearly 3.2 million of those acres are located in the U.S. South.

Before this merger, PotlatchDeltic was already a dominant force in Arkansas, owning approximately 935,000 acres in the state. The company’s presence is vertically integrated, with timber harvested from Arkansas lands feeding its sawmills in Warren, Waldo, and Ola.

PotlatchDeltic is also the owner of Chenal Properties Inc., the property developer of some of the most exclusive and sought-after master-planned communities in Central Arkansas, including Chenal Valley and Wildwood Place in Little Rock and Red Oak Ridge in Hot Springs. 

Then in 2013, Murphy Oil became a standalone oil company when it split off its gasoline marketing and retail assets into a separate publicly traded company. Murphy USA, still headquartered in El Dorado, is now one of the largest convenience store chains in the U.S. with more than 1,750 stores located primarily in the Southwest, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast United States. The south Arkansas company has 17,200 employees across 27 states that service an estimated two million customers each day.

Ranked 231^st among Fortune 500 companies, Murphy USA is now much larger than its former Arkansas parent company. Murphy Oil, which moved its headquarters to Houston after the global oil price crash in 2020, also still maintains a small presence in El Dorado.