Passenger traffic down in May

Thursday, June 20, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

Passenger counts were down for the ninth straight month at McCarran International Airport, with 3.2 percent fewer people using the Las Vegas airport in May compared with a year ago.

McCarran reported 3 million passengers used the airport in May, down from the 3.1 million that arrived and departed in May 2001.

Four of the top five airlines at McCarran reported fewer passengers for the month compared with the same month a year earlier. Market leader Southwest Airlines reported 942,993 passengers, a 1.7 percent decline, No. 2 America West was off 5.5 percent to 464,759 and United was down 12.4 percent to 236,153 people.

Las Vegas-based National Airlines, the No. 5 carrier by passengers served, was down 3.5 percent to 206,014.

The only airline showing more passengers in May over the same month a year ago was No. 4 Delta Air Lines, which had a 1.6 percent increase to 214,299.

For the first five months of 2002, traffic at McCarran was down 6.9 percent from the previous year to 14.3 million passengers.

About 46 percent of Las Vegas' gamblers arrive by plane.