Casinos hope to cash in on Hong Kong flight

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Friday, July 26, 2002 | 10:55 a.m.

Las Vegas will solidify its marketing reach into Southeast Asia next week with the inauguration of nonstop flights linking McCarran International Airport with Hong Kong.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will make round-trip flights three times a week with a twin-engine Boeing 777 jumbo jet configured to hold 285 passengers, including 30 in a business class.

The new service should enhance the casino industry's ability to market to Asian gamblers. Direct service from Hong Kong will cut about four to five hours off a plane trip to Las Vegas. Passengers from Southeast Asia usually fly to either Los Angeles or San Francisco where they'd have to change airlines. U.S. Customs and Immigration lines also are usually longer at Los Angeles and San Francisco than in Las Vegas.

Marketing officials say nonstop and direct flights are a major incentive to travel because they eliminate time-consuming layovers and potential flight delays.

"We're bringing in brand-new airplanes and introducing new in-flight amenities with our Las Vegas service, which is our seventh North American gateway," said James Boyd, a spokesman for SIA.

The new service will be the longest transit to and from McCarran and will be the first overseas service introduced to Las Vegas since Virgin Atlantic Airlines began flights to and from London in June 2000.

The SIA flight will originate in Singapore Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 6:05 p.m. with a three-hour, 45-minute flight to Hong Kong. After one hour on the ground, the trans-Pacific leg will take 13 hours and 45 minutes, landing at McCarran at 9:45 p.m. the same day.

The return flights leave at 7 a.m., Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays with a 15-hour transit to Hong Kong, arriving there at 1 p.m. the next day. The flight concludes in Singapore at 5:35 p.m.

The SIA flights will use an amenity-filled 777, considered the most sophisticated airliner among Boeing's jets. An entertainment system and seats capable of reclining into beds are among the comforts offered on the planes serving Las Vegas.

"It's a wonderful product," said Harry Kassap, manager of air service development at McCarran, of the airline's "SpaceBed" seats. "They (SIA) have invested a lot of money in making this a comfortable transit."

Kassap, one of the Las Vegas officials who originally recruited the airline, said he expects SIA's Hong Kong service to become a primary transportation link between Southeast Asia and Las Vegas, especially since the airline has dozens of connecting flights between Hong Kong and Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia.

Kassap said he also expects SIA to become an important business carrier for casino executives.

"I would be shocked if Las Vegas casino executives didn't use Singapore Airlines as their primary mode of transportation when casinos open in Macau," Kassap said. "The airline and us were watching the developments in Macau very closely."

Las Vegas gaming executives Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson last month signed contracts to be licensed to operate casinos in Macau, which is about a 45-minute hydrofoil ride from Hong Kong and doesn't have a major airport.

Bill Mahaffey, manager of transportation and marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, added the SIA flights should increase the Chinese market in Las Vegas.

SIA's Boyd said the airline is encouraged by early bookings to Las Vegas. The company has a policy of not disclosing future loads. The company's performance in June, however, shows an improvement in traffic over last year. The company filled 78.5 percent of its seats with paying customers last month, an increase of 2.4 points over June 2001.

"This is the most significant air service inauguration for Las Vegas since 9/11," Kassap said.

Other airline service inaugurations have been announced this year by Spirit Airlines, which began flights between Las Vegas and Detroit in June, and JetBlue Airways, which plans to begin flights between Las Vegas and Long Beach, Calif., in October.

"It's the best indicator yet that Las Vegas as a market is rebounding," Kassap said. "To be the next North American gateway for the pre-eminent air carrier in the world is a really significant accomplishment for Las Vegas."

SIA already offers service from Europe and Asia to Newark, N.J.; New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport; Chicago's O'Hare International; Los Angeles International; San Francisco International; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Andrew Tan, the newly appointed manager of SIA in Nevada, has arranged for contracted services for the airline at McCarran.

Tan said SIA has contracted with Swissport USA Inc. to handle the airline's ground operations in Las Vegas.

Swissport will handle the airline's ticket counter, baggage service, flight check-in at the gate and ramp services. Gate Gourmet will provide catering. That company also caters SIA flights in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The airline will have three Las Vegas employees, including Hazel Johnson-Harris, a customer services officer who grew up in Las Vegas and then spent 10 years with the airline in San Francisco.