Airlines beefing up service at McCarran

Thursday, April 6, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

Big increase

The number of daily departures from McCarran International Airport has grown by 13.5 percent over last year, airport statistics show.

As of March 7, McCarran had 436.6 daily flights. That's up from 432 at the beginning of the year and up from 386.4 in January 1999. The fractions represent flights that don't operate every day.

Planes coming to Las Vegas have 64,674 seats per day, up from 63,534 in January and up from 55,101 in January 1999. The current total is 17.6 percent higher than in March 1999.

There will be an estimated 13.28 new flights bringing in an additional 1,660 seats to the market by June -- a 2.6 percent increase in just three months.

Daily nonstop air service between Las Vegas and Canada resumed this week with the startup of flights to McCarran International Airport from Toronto.

The new international service offered by Air Canada is the latest in a flurry of new flights offered by several airlines gearing to take advantage of the approaching vacation season.

Air Canada, that nation's largest carrier, is offering daily round-trip nonstop flights arriving at 10:18 a.m. and returning at 11:05 a.m. Air Canada also has evening flights to and from Toronto Thursdays and Sundays.

Air Canada is using twin-engine Airbus A319 jets with a capacity of 112 passengers for the run. The jet is configured to hold 96 in the coach cabin and 16 in business class.

It's the first daily nonstop service to a Canadian city from Las Vegas since Canadian Airlines discontinued service between Las Vegas and Vancouver, British Columbia, more than a year ago.

Air Canada is in the process of acquiring Canadian Airlines and began integrating that company's planes and schedules this week.

The airline is a member of the Star Alliance, which includes United Airlines. United ground crews based in Las Vegas are handling Air Canada's flights.

Passengers leaving Toronto's Pearson International Airport for Las Vegas are precleared by U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization Service officers before they leave the country so arriving passengers don't have to clear at McCarran.

A spokesman for Air Canada said Las Vegas is one of 12 new cities on 32 new routes for the company in an expansion.

"We see a potential for increased demand both from the Canadian end and the U.S. end," said Dick Griffith, a spokesman for Air Canada based in Chicago. "Our marketing people keep pretty close tabs and if potential for growth exists to other markets and the resources exist, we'll increase offerings to other cities."

Griffith said the new flight has good connections with other destinations in eastern Canada and internationally. Passengers can connect on flights from Toronto to London, Paris, Zurich and Frankfurt.

The Toronto flights are the first daily international service to McCarran. Nonstop flights exist to Mexico and Japan several times a week and in June, Virgin Atlantic Airlines is scheduled to begin twice-a-week nonstop service between Las Vegas and London. Between two carriers, there are eight flights a week between Las Vegas and Tokyo.

Several other airlines are increasing flights or inaugurating service in Las Vegas as part of their growth strategies.

A new arrival to McCarran is Legend Airlines, which had its maiden flight Wednesday between Dallas and Washington D.C. The airline begins daily round-trip flights between Dallas and Las Vegas tonight and Friday morning.

Legend is offering the first long-haul commercial flights in more than a quarter-century from Love Field, an airport near downtown Dallas. Most long flights from Dallas operate from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Flights on planes with more than 56 passengers are restricted to destinations within Texas and seven nearby states by the Wright Amendment, a rule designed to foster growth at the other airport. The same rule prevents Love Field-based Southwest Airlines from flying nonstop between Las Vegas and Dallas.

But Legend has reconfigured its twin-engine DC-9 jets to carry exactly 56 passengers. Planes have luxurious accommodations, with leather seats and individual TV screens for each passenger.

Legend plans daily arrivals from Dallas to McCarran at 10:35 p.m., with a return departure at 1:55 a.m. Airline officials are hoping to capitalize on Love Field's close proximity to downtown Dallas and the plush aircraft.

While most of Legend's market is focused on business travelers with routes between Dallas and Washington and Los Angeles, the airline is offering its lone flight to Las Vegas at night. While some of Legend's specials match existing fares to Dallas, some tickets cost up to three times as much with round-trip tickets costing around $900.

The company had planned to launch service to Las Vegas last month, but was slowed by Federal Aviation Administration approvals. The custom-built galleys in the plane failed FAA crash tests, but the planes have been modified.

Another new carrier that began serving Las Vegas last month is Fresno, Calif.-based Allegiant Air.

Allegiant, which uses twin-engine DC-9 jets, offers daily service between Fresno and Las Vegas and twice-a-day nonstop flights between Long Beach, Calif., and Las Vegas. The Fresno flights are nonstop Sunday though Friday and one stop on Saturday.

Houston-based Continental Airlines has increased the number of flights to Las Vegas by 43 percent over the same time last year. Continental has quietly added flights over the last year and has put larger planes on some routes, operating between Las Vegas and three hubs at Houston, Cleveland and Newark, N.J. Continental, the No. 6 carrier at McCarran, now has seven daily round-trip flights to Houston Intercontinental Airport, six to Newark and three to Cleveland.

Las Vegas-based National Airlines, which started up service to Miami in January, announced this week it will expand existing service to Philadelphia in June.

National, which operates a fleet of 175-passenger Boeing 757s, will add a flight that leaves Las Vegas for Philadelphia at 9:30 a.m. and a return flight that arrives at McCarran at 8:30 p.m. The airline's other flights leave at 12:40 and 10:45 p.m.

America West Airlines, which operates a hub at McCarran, added a round-trip nonstop flight to Spokane, Wash., last month and will inaugurate service to Hartford, Conn., in June.

Southwest Airlines, the largest McCarran operator, added round-trip nonstop flights between Las Vegas and New Orleans, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month. It also began an addition daily flight between Las Vegas and Omaha, Neb.

On May 7, it will add a round-trip nonstop flight to Albany, N.Y. When the Albany flight is added, Southwest will have 154 daily operations from McCarran.

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