McCarran continues record passenger pace

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 10:59 a.m.

Passengers continue to arrive at McCarran International Airport at a record pace as another monthly mark fell in September.

Las Vegas' airport had 3.4 million passengers last month, surpassing the September 2003 total by 14.7 percent, and the eighth straight month of double-digit increases.

It was the busiest September on record for McCarran.

Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said he was surprised by the strong September showing.

"We had a strong September last year, so I expected the month-over-month comparison would be a little less this month," Walker said.

He said the increase is indicative of what's happening in the Southern Nevada tourism industry, with strong hotel occupancy rates and good convention traffic.

Walker said McCarran is anticipating getting into a more predictable growth mode and that airport officials will have to get more creative with its resources as expansion continues.

"It gets increasingly more difficult as we get bigger because our growth options are more limited," he said. "There's a limited amount of acreage. All the easy fixes are done and its getting increasingly more difficult and more expensive. The environmental process is getting much harder."

For the first three quarters of 2004, passenger counts also are ahead by 14.7 percent, with 31.1 million passing through McCarran's gates in the first nine months of the year.

Only two of 28 commercial air carriers with scheduled service to Las Vegas didn't show a year-over-year increase for September with several of the major carriers having double-digit increases.

Southwest Airlines, the busiest carrier at McCarran, had 1 million passengers, a 12.6 percent increase over September 2003's total, and No. 2 America West was up 12 percent to 547,039 passengers for the month.

No. 3 United, which operates its Ted Airlines discount carrier in Las Vegas, soared by 22.7 percent to 277,295 passengers and No. 5 American was up 17.7 percent to 212,922 passengers.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air more than doubled its passenger count in Las Vegas with a 115.1 percent increase to 47,809.

International travel also continues to perform well at McCarran with double-digit increases for Virgin Atlantic Airways (up 59.4 percent to 14,427 passengers) and Japan Airlines (up 36.7 percent to 7,575).

The two airlines that lost ground in September, Aloha Airlines and Aero Mexico, decreased the number of flights they have coming into the market.

Aloha, which was down 3.6 percent to 6,991 passengers, trimmed one of its two one-stop flights to Honolulu, while Aero Mexico, down 2 percent to 4,693 passengers, eliminated two flights a week from its schedule.

ATA Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, had a 15 percent increase in passengers to 62,076. Delta Air Lines, the No. 4 commercial carrier at McCarran and battling to stay out of bankruptcy court, showed a 4.4 percent increase for the month to 223,990 passengers.