National announces plans for expansion

Monday, May 13, 2002 | 10:51 a.m.

Las Vegas-based National Airlines announced one of the largest expansions in its history today, with new flights to Washington D.C., Reno and Miami beginning by November.

McCarran International Airport's fifth-largest carrier by passenger volume will mark its third anniversary of flying later this month and will also begin nonstop service between Las Vegas and Seattle next week.

But the company is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is awaiting a $70 million federal loan guarantee from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board to trigger a reorganization plan that has been conditionally approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Mike Conway, president and chief executive officer of National, said the airline would take delivery of two or three Boeing 757 twin-engine jets to accommodate the service expansion. Those are in addition to three 175-passenger 757s the airline is getting to start the Seattle service and an additional flight between Las Vegas and Dallas-Fort Worth later this month.

Conway said the airline would be able to fly the newest expanded schedule with two planes, but may get a third as a spare. He said he expects the airline will have 20 or 21 jets in its fleet by the time the expanded routes are in place.

Under the plan announced today, National will return service to Ronald Reagan National Airport near the center of Washington D.C. as well as inaugurate service to Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia on Aug. 1. Both will be nonstop round trips. A second nonstop round trip will be added to Dulles on Aug. 28.

With three daily flights to and from those airports, National would provide the largest number of seats between Las Vegas and Washington of any airline.

Beginning Oct. 3, National will begin service to Reno-Tahoe International Airport from Las Vegas, also using 757 jets. Under a schedule announced today, 70-minute flights from McCarran to Reno would leave daily at 8 and 11:25 a.m. and 6:30 and 9:45 p.m., and return from Reno at 7 and 10:15 a.m. and 1:35 and 8:40 p.m.

Finally, National plans to add a third daily nonstop round-trip flight to and from Miami International Airport beginning Nov. 21. The airline inaugurated service to Miami in January 2000 and the new flight will leave Las Vegas at 4:15 p.m., arriving in Miami at 11:55 p.m., with a new return flight leaving Miami at 11 a.m. and arriving at McCarran at 1:20 p.m.

If other service announcements by other air carriers occur as planned, National's three Washington D.C. flights in August would return service at McCarran to the level it was before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, an average 447 daily flights.

When the expansion is completed, National will be capable of flying 1,400 additional passengers each day into Las Vegas -- 2,100 includng the Seattle and Dallas flights -- a big plus for the gaming capital, which relies on the airlines for a steady stream of casino customers.

Conway also said the expansion would create an additional 500 jobs by the end of the year.

"We wanted to return to Washington in a big way and I think we have," Conway said. "We also feel our entrance into Reno-Tahoe marks the return of meaningful competition in the Reno-Las Vegas market. It also marks the natural evolution of Nevada-based National Airlines linking Nevada's two largest cities."

National was forced to discontinue its flights to and from Reagan National Airport after the terrorist attacks. Government officials slapped a restriction on the size of aircraft that could fly into the airport, which is located minutes from the Capitol and the White House, after large-capacity planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Since National Airlines had no planes with fewer than 156 seats -- the restriction level that was imposed -- it had to discontinue service it had worked for months to get. But Conway said the government lifted the ban and National is cleared to return.

The Reno announcement was somewhat of a surprise, since National had never publicly announced any intention of going there. Conway said Reno officials actively pursued National after American Airlines discontinued Las Vegas-Reno service shortly after its acquisition of Reno Air.

Conway said National would continue its strategy of running every flight on the airline to or from its McCarran International hub and there are no plans to offer nonstop routes from Reno to the East Coast. However, Conway said he expects National's flights to be popular with Reno residents because they'll have one-stop service to several East Coast destinations.

National's entry into Reno is likely to heat up competition with Las Vegas' dominant air carrier, Southwest Airlines, which has nine daily round-trip flights, one that operates six days a week, one that runs five days a week and one Sunday-only flight connecting the two cities. America West has one daily flight between the two cities. On the Reno route, Southwest will continue to have more flight frequency and about twice the capacity as National, whose planes are larger than Southwest's.

An aviation expert says National could face an uphill fight, since Southwest is so entrenched in the market. He also said the extra capacity will make for a crowded market.

"Four 757s is a lot of iron in the air (to Reno)," said Mike Boyd of the Evergreen, Colo.-based Boyd Group, an aviation consultant.

Boyd also was skeptical about the growth to Washington, since low-fare Southwest will also be an indirect competitor with its flights to Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Conway said he's confident his company will succeed because many of the passengers between Las Vegas and Reno will be customers who are just making a stop en route to another destination. He said he expects National to be boosted by the Reno convention industry and the Lake Tahoe ski industry.

Boyd also said it was obvious to him that today's announcements of service to Washington and Reno -- which are pleasing to elected officials -- could help the company win approval of its government loan guarantee.

But Conway said the move isn't a ploy to curry favor with politicians.

"We'd be going through an awful lot trouble and expense, securing airport leases and hiring employees, just to get the loan guarantee," Conway said. "That's really a stretch."