McCarran gearing for extra-busy weekend

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

College football fans, Mexican patriots and auto racing enthusiasts will pour into McCarran International Airport this weekend, giving the appearance of a busy three-day holiday.

However, airport and tourism industry officials say those visitors won't greatly increase the usual hectic Las Vegas weekend crowd.

A high number of charter flights will account for much of the increased airport traffic, officials said.

Those flights will bring in at least 11,000 visitors for the UNLV-Wisconsin football game on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium, Mexican Independence Day festivities and the Indy Racing League Las Vegas 500-Kilometer inaugural event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

"On an average day, about 84,000 visitors go through McCarran, but this weekend we expect about 90,000 (per day)," said airport spokesman Adam Mayberry. "When you consider how crowded it is on average days, that figure is a dramatic increase."

The recent Labor Day weekend resulted in a three-day traffic count of 350,000 people in and out of the airport -- a considerably larger number than the projected 270,000 for this Friday through Sunday, Mayberry said.

Yet, with an additional 45 exclusive charter flights -- Sun Country Airlines alone has added 20 flights for Badger football fans -- it could appear just as busy as a holiday, Mayberry said.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority expects little change in the average weekend occupancy figures, which is 96.2 percent for the 94,000 rooms.

"That average figure already is so high that it is difficult to say if it could get higher this weekend," an LVCVA research official said.

Airport and convention officials noted that potential visitors, who otherwise would have come to Las Vegas this weekend, may have put those plans on hold for a weekend when not so much is going on in town -- when flights and rooms will be more readily available.

LVCVA officials also declined to project potential nongaming revenue figures, noting that those estimates are reserved for three-day holiday weekends.

According to statistics gathered by the airport, 10,000 football fans, 1,000 Mexican revelers and a few hundred racing enthusiasts will come by charter flights.

Thousands more will come for those events by conventional airlines.

More racing fans are expected to arrive by charter once the track gets more established, Mayberry said.

A large chunk of the 30,000 to 40,000 fans projected to attend the inaugural 310-mile race at the new 1.5-mile tri-oval will be locals or California and Arizona residents driving to Las Vegas, Mayberry said.

Airport officials are advising passengers to arrive 90 minutes to two hours before their scheduled departure times.