Airline adding nine LV flights

Wednesday, May 14, 2003 | 11:43 a.m.

Southwest Airlines, the No. 1 flier of gamblers and tourists to Las Vegas, today said it will add nine daily round-trip Las Vegas flights -- including three to East Coast destinations.

The expansion, announced today, will bring Southwest to within one daily flight of making McCarran International Airport the largest station it serves by number of flights. The largest such station is now in Phoenix.

Southwest already boards more passengers in Las Vegas -- 10.8 million in 2002 -- than any of the 59 airports it serves.

The company says it will have 182 daily flights compared with 183 in Phoenix when the expansion is completed in October. Southwest is taking delivery of new twin-engine Boeing 737 jets and has no plans to reduce flights to other destinations from Las Vegas.

The expansion will occur in three phases. On Aug. 10, the company will add a round trip between Las Vegas and Orange County, Calif., for a total of three a day.

The largest portion of the expansion occurs Sept. 10 when Southwest unveils nonstop service to and from Manchester, N.H.; Hartford, Conn.; and Saturday-only service to Detroit. On the same day, the company will add two daily round-trip flights to Reno, for a total of 12 a day; two to Chicago's Midway Airport, for a total of seven a day; and one to Tucson, for a total of four a day.

On Oct. 5, the company will introduce new nonstop service between Las Vegas and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.