Southwest Airlines flight cuts won’t affect Las Vegas operations

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

Southwest Airlines is trimming flights from some of its busiest airports to accommodate service to a new city, but the cuts won't affect Las Vegas.

Southwest, the busiest commercial carrier at McCarran International Airport, added a daily Las Vegas trip Sunday, a round-trip nonstop flight to Norfolk, Va., to bring the average number of flights each day to 170.

In order to add the Norfolk service, Southwest had to cut flights in other markets, including its Dallas-Houston route, which went from 33 to 29 flights a day.

The Southwest cuts were the first for the airline in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks. Following those attacks, Southwest announced it would save cash by delaying the delivery of 11 new Boeing 737 jets that were to be used to implement the Norfolk service as well as enable the company to retire three old-model 737s.

Southwest, the only major airline that didn't lay off employees after the attacks, is now in the position to hire experienced workers laid off by other airlines. About 92,000 airline employees lost their jobs after the attacks.

Southwest plans to hire ramp workers, gate and ticket counter staff and baggage handlers at 12 cities. Roz Santangelo, a Southwest spokeswoman in Las Vegas, said the company plans to hire some workers locally, since activity at McCarran has bounced back to near-normal levels and increased security measures requires additional staffing. The company has not determined how many people will be hired locally.

The schedule shuffling for Las Vegas comes at a time when Americans are returning to the skies in greater numbers.

The Air Transport Association reported that 7 million passengers flew on U.S. airliners last week, the most since the attacks. Travel was off by more than 25 percent over the same period a year ago, but it was still higher than it was the previous week.

In the week leading up to the attack, about 9 million people flew, slightly ahead of last year's pace; the first week after the attacks, about 5 million flew, about half the number from the same period in 2000, and a week later, 6 million flew.

The federal government has issued about half of the $5 billion in grant money to U.S. airlines to compensate for the closure of the nation's airspace after the attacks. Airlines were inactive for two days and many carriers didn't return to the skies for a third as airlines finally got their customers to their destinations and repositioned their planes to restart service.

Carriers serving Las Vegas received the following in grants: Alaska Airlines, $45.6 million; Allegiant Air, $61,549; American, $359.4 million; America West, $60.3 million; Continental, $191.2 million; Delta, $327 million; Frontier, $10.1 million; Hawaiian, $18 million; Mesa Airlines, which operates as America West Express, $5.8 million; Northwest, $248.5 million; SkyWest, $5.7 million; Southwest, $144.4 million; Sun Country, $8.2 million; TWA, $78 million; United, $390.7 million; US Airways, $159.7 million; and Vanguard, $4.6 million.

Two representatives of the Southern Nevada air tour industry also received aid. Eagle Canyon Airlines, which operates Scenic Airlines, received $238,379, and Grand Canyon Helicopters got $340. A company called Air Nevada, doing business as Pacific Wings, no longer operates in the state and received $4,744. The company flies in Hawaii, but has kept its Air Nevada corporate name.

Missing from the list of airlines receiving grants was Air Vegas Airlines, which submitted an application and is awaiting word on whether it would receive any money.

Jim Petty, president of Air Vegas, said he has contacted representatives of Nevada's congressional delegation to track down the status of his application.

Meanwhile airlines that serve McCarran have begun reporting their respective load factors for the month of September. Most companies attempted to rebound with ticket sales last week.

Las Vegas won't know how big a hit local passenger counts took in September until the middle of October when airlines' monthly statistics are tabulated.

In Las Vegas, most airlines' schedules were unchanged in September, but many of the largest carriers had flight reductions at McCarran. More reductions may be on the horizon, since the end of October is a common time for airlines to make changes for seasonal travel.

Southwest, McCarran's busiest carrier, reported passenger counts were down 21.6 percent in September from the same month a year ago and capacity fell 3.6 percent. The resulting load factor fell from 65.7 percent in September 2000 to 53.4 percent last month. A "load factor" is a percentage of paying customers on flights.

Tempe, Ariz.-based America West eliminated 10 of its 84 daily flights, with routes to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, Phoenix, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Palm Springs, Calif., affected.

For the month America West's systemwide traffic was down 21 percent and its capacity was reduced by 15.3 percent from last year. That results in the load factor decreasing from 64 percent in September 2000 to 59.8 percent last month.

United Airlines, the No. 3 airline in Las Vegas, has cut three of its 38 daily flights in Las Vegas, including one each to and from Denver, Chicago and Washington's Dulles International Airport.

The company previously announced that further reductions are possible and that it plans to eliminate its Shuttle by United brand. United has indicated that it would fold its Shuttle flights into its mainline schedule and possibly use larger aircraft with fewer flights in the consolidation.

United's Shuttle program -- an attempt to duplicate Southwest's successful high-frequency, low-cost style with a Boeing 737 fleet -- presently operates between Las Vegas and Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

United has announced it plans to retire its three-engine Boeing 727 jets and its 200-series twin-engine Boeing 737s, the two least fuel-efficient aircraft types in the United fleet.

Systemwide, United traffic was off 31.5 percent over last year and capacity was down by 21.7 percent. The resulting load factor was down 8.8 points from last year to 61.1 percent in September.

National Airlines previously announced that it was cutting 20 percent of its flights, including routes to JFK Airport, Reagan National and a Miami flight that was on the calendar to to begin later this month.

Although Reagan National Airport is now open, its full capacity is being extended in phases with cities closest to Washington getting flights reinstated first. Routes between that airport and Las Vegas aren't slated to be reinstated for at least another month, both for National Airlines and America West.

Another snag for National: The FAA is restricting the size of planes going into Reagan National to 156 passengers. America West can adjust with Boeing 737s or Airbus A-320 jets; National's 757 jets are too big to meet the restriction.

A National company spokesman said it hasn't been determined whether the airline would reinstate the service to Washington or how it would juggle aircraft to add that service if it does reinstate it. Both National and America West lobbied hard to win the Reagan National slots from the Department of Transportation last year.

The No. 5 McCarran carrier, Atlanta-based Delta, announced in late September that it was cutting two flights a day out of its average of 23 a day, but the company didn't specify on what routes decreases were planned. Based on a schedule published on Delta's Internet site, the company plans to eliminate nonstop service between Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., and will cut one of its three daily flights between Las Vegas and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Delta's traffic in September was down 32.4 percent and capacity was off 17.6 percent, resulting in a decrease in load factor from 68.5 percent in September 2000 to 56.2 percent last month.

Other service reductions and load performances for September:

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