LV officials hopeful pact will bring more air service to McCarran

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 4:21 a.m.

The bilateral agreement signed by the United States and Japan on Friday could open the door to the elusive nonstop service between Las Vegas and Tokyo long sought by local marketing experts.

But there's still a long road ahead before Japanese passengers pass through U.S. Customs at McCarran International Airport. Now, the marketing partners who spent much of last year selling Las Vegas as a prime direct-route destination will be knocking on doors with a friendly reminder that the city could be a less crowded alternative gateway to the United States.

"We did some of that (lobbying of air carriers) in the past and now that the agreement is in place, it really puts us in the ballgame," said Harry Kassap, manager of air service development at McCarran. "We applaud the efforts of the State Department and the Department of Transportation for liberalizing the agreement with Japan by taking part in every round of negotiations."

"It puts us in competition with the Houstons, Dallases and Denvers -- all the airports -- looking for our fair share of the pie," added William Mahaffey, manager of transportation at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The agreement reached Friday establishes the framework for an agreement that would open U.S. markets to Japanese carriers and Japanese markets to U.S. airlines.

The chief beneficiaries of the pact are AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc., and Continental Airlines Inc. -- all of which currently only have limited access to Japanese destinations. And the pact will allow Japan's All Nippon Airways Co. to significantly expand its access to U.S. cities.

Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines, which will start direct one-stop service from Las Vegas to Tokyo in April, said Friday it is investigating the viability of trying a nonstop.

"Las Vegas is one of the top tourist destinations for the Japanese," said Doug Killian, director of international communications for Northwest. "Incumbent airlines have the ability to operate from any point in the United States to Japan. It makes it possible for those four airlines to begin service (to Las Vegas). Under the old agreement, that was not possible."

In addition to Northwest, Chicago-based United Airlines and Japan Airlines and All Nippon of Tokyo are the incumbents that have the most potential for starting direct service to Las Vegas.

Northwest announced a strategic alliance with Continental Airlines last week that Killian said could play into Northwest's ability to offer a Las Vegas nonstop.

"We could code-share it with Continental," Killian said. "I'm not saying that is going to happen, but it's a possibility."

Another factor that is part of the equation: the number of slots available at Tokyo's main Narita Airport. It was an airport slot limitation that ultimately resulted in Las Vegas losing out on nonstop service to London.

Northwest has the second-largest number of slots -- 316 a week -- at Narita. United has about 100 fewer.

Regardless of whether Las Vegas is successful in lobbying any carrier to initiate nonstop Tokyo service, Northwest's daily one-stop flights are due to begin April 9. The airline will offer a 150-seat Airbus A320 jet between Las Vegas and Los Angeles International Airport. Although the flight number will stay the same, passengers will switch to a Boeing 747 for the 14-hour flight across the ocean.

Incoming passengers would be required to clear U.S. Customs in Los Angeles on the flight that originates in Shanghai, China, before stopping in Tokyo.

The Las Vegas flight's arrival in Tokyo offers good connections to Osaka, Japan; Manila; Taipei and Bangkok.

For more on this story, see the SUN's Business Monday section on Feb. 2.

BLOOMBERG BUSINESS NEWS by contributed to this report.