More travelers coming to Vegas

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.

After the first six months of 2005, McCarran International Airport is on track to serve more than 43 million passengers for the year.

Following a brisk June total of 3.8 million passengers, McCarran is 7 percent ahead of last year's pace with a total of 21.8 million people for the first six months of the year.

It was the busiest June in the airport's history and was 7.9 percent ahead of of June 2004's passenger count.

Of the five busiest carriers at McCarran, America West showed the largest percentage increase in June with 17.6 percent more passengers served than the same month a year ago. America West, the second-busiest passenger carrier at McCarran, reported 697,387 passengers in June.

That compares with 1.2 million flown by No. 1 Southwest, which saw its June total increase by 4 percent over last year's total.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which for months has been flirting with a date in Bankruptcy Court, saw its June total drop by 8.4 percent to 217,378 passengers. The airline dropped four flights when it eliminated its route between McCarran and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, reducing its presence at that airport.

While several airlines that trimmed flights from its schedule saw decreases in June, companies that added service more than made up for the losses.

In addition to Delta, US Airways, ATA, Aloha and Spirit -- all small players at McCarran -- showed passenger reductions resulting from decreased Las Vegas service.

But several rivals had double-digit percentage increases for the month, including Northwest (10.5 percent to 144,070 passengers), Jet Blue Airways (38.8 percent to 77,126), Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air (71.6 percent to 70,754), AirTran Airways (37.9 percent to 41,242), Frontier (42.9 percent to 38,496), Midwest Express (34.6 percent to 21,124) and Sun Country (48 percent to 13,623).

Increased operations by Mesa Airlines, operating as America West Express, helped the June commuter traffic double to 147,818 passengers, but the number of charter passengers arriving at the airport decreased by 18.8 percent to 96,064 for the month.

Scheduled international travel to and from McCarran was up 31.5 percent in June to 87,644 passengers. For the first six months of the year, scheduled international travel is up 28 percent to 501,100 passengers.