Flying fitness

Adrienne Packer

Friday, Feb. 4, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

The packed plane finally touched down in Las Vegas and at least one passenger -- who had been strapped in a middle seat for five hours -- spotted exactly what she needed before the next leg of her trip.

It wasn't any of the new bars that have opened at McCarran International Airport. Nor was it an inviting block of flashing slot machines.

Sharmell Sullivan's eyes zeroed in on the colorful "24 Hour Fitness Center" sign just opposite the security posts for the D and C terminals. Within minutes, the Atlanta resident was gliding at a swift pace on a treadmill. "This is phenomenal," Sullivan said. "A gym at an airport?"

The California-based company opened its 14,000-square-foot fitness center at McCarran last month. Health clubs in airports are becoming a national trend -- they first debuted in Pittsburgh and Denver. McCarran's, however, is the first facility open to both airport employees and the public.

"If this weren't here, I'd be eating at Cinnabon," said Sullivan, who was scheduled to fly to South Carolina after a business meeting in Las Vegas.

Of course, not everybody who shuffles off an airplane is a former wrestler with the World Championship Wrestling organization like Sullivan.

The closest most passengers waiting for flights will come to pumping iron is yanking the arm of a slot machine or lifting a 16-ounce beer.

Sitting in an airport lounge sipping a glass of red wine, Ken Grauberger offered a quizzical look when asked if he would ever replace a drink with a quick workout between flights.

"Do I look like I go to a gym?" the Denver-bound Grauberger said after he was assured the question was not a joke. "Why would you want to do that?"

The folks at 24 Hour Fitness believe dozens of passengers will. In fact, Becky Most, the general manager of the airport facility, said 20 travelers dropped by the gym in the first 13 days. And that, she emphasized, is without an aggressive advertising campaign.

If passengers aren't up to taking advantage of the rows of Stairmasters, treadmills, exercise bikes, cross-trainers, weights or aerobics classes, they can drop by for a jacuzzi, sauna, steam bath or just a shower.

The fitness club will soon offer massages and personal trainers.

"Whatever they choose to do, they should be as happy as they can be when they leave here," Most said.

The gym also has four 40-inch televisions and will soon install flight monitors. And keeping with the airport theme, chairs in the waiting room look like they were torn out of the first-class section of a plane. The rubber-matted floor is painted like a runway.

Non-members pay $20 for a workout. Travelers who don't have clothes with them can pay $30 for a package that includes a shirt, shorts, socks and shoes.

Promotions manager James Kessler said most of the clientele so far has been airport employees -- about 10,000 people, including pilots and airline personnel, work at McCarran.

Members of other 24-hour clubs in town, who are familiar with some airlines' tardiness, have packed their workout clothes when they pick up family members or friends from the airport.

"Our main focus right now is to have a benefit for employees," Kessler said. "Then we'll start marketing to executive travelers and the everyday traveler. This is a flagship, a prototype. If it goes as planned, we'll expand (in other airports)."