LV works for regular direct flights from Italy

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 10:59 a.m.

Air service developers at McCarran International Airport hope Wednesday's arrival of an Air Europe charter flight from Italy will lead to regularly scheduled service between Milan and Las Vegas.

An Air Europe Boeing 767 arrived Wednesday afternoon with more than 180 tour operators, travel agents and members of the press, the first of at least five charter operations in July, August and September for the Milan-based airline.

Harry Kassap, manager of air service development at McCarran, said having so many travel industry representatives in the city should help build awareness of what Las Vegas has to offer to Italian tourists.

Meanwhile, a proposed alliance between an Air Europe rival, Alitalia Airlines, and Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines, could trigger an open-skies agreement between the United States and Italy, Kassap said. If the alliance occurs and the open-skies pact takes effect, Air Europe could turn the charter operation into a regularly scheduled run between Milan and Las Vegas.

Kassap said although Milan is not viewed as one of Europe's major transportation hubs, a direct link to Italy would benefit Las Vegas. Milan, with a population of about 1.6 million estimated in 1995, is Italy's second-largest city.

Because Air Europe is based in Milan, it preferred flying from that city instead of Rome, the nation's capital and largest city with about 2.7 million people.

The prospect of regularly scheduled nonstop flights between Milan and Las Vegas "is the ultimate validation of why our process works."

That process he was referring to is the efforts of the Las Vegas Parties -- representatives of several Las Vegas groups that travel overseas and lobby to encourage direct service to McCarran.

Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, took a personal interest in the Italian negotiations and led the first contingent to meet with represenatives of Air Europe. Walker lived in Milan while on a church mission and initiated negotiations that led to Wednesday's charter flight arrival.

On another European front, Kassap said Las Vegas officials are optimistic there could be a breakthrough in negotiations to add air service between Las Vegas and Great Britain.

Bilateral talks stalled last fall when U.S. negotiators walked out of a session on expanding the number of flights allowed between the two nations.

U.S. officials said the British were insisting on a deal that would be advantageous to the nation's top airline, British Airways. Nailing down an agreement between the two countries is critical because Las Vegas has been courting direct nonstop service to London on Virgin Atlantic Airlines, British Airways' top rival.

Kassap said it appears negotiations will begin again with Britain next month.