Friday, March 18, 2005 | 11:17 a.m.
The burner beneath McCarran International Airport's passenger counts has been turned from "high" to "medium" as the airport serving Las Vegas reported a 3.1 percent increase in traffic in February over the previous year.
McCarran logged 3.2 million passengers for the month compared with 3.1 million in February 2004. In January, the airport had a 9.8 percent year-over-year increase, thanks primarily to strong visitation for the New Year's Eve weekend and above-average attendance at the International Consumer Electronics Show and World of Concrete conventions.
The February calendar was bolstered by the Super Bowl weekend and Chinese New Year celebration as well as the MAGIC Marketplace fashion convention.
For the first two months of the year, passenger traffic is up 6.4 percent to 6.4 million passengers.
Four of the top five airlines serving McCarran had increased traffic in February.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the busiest commercial passenger carrier at the airport, had a 5.7 percent increase in traffic, again cracking the 1 million passenger barrier. Southwest had nine more daily flights in February than it had a year ago and a 6.5 percent increase to 26,359 seats coming into the market daily.
No. 2 America West Airlines, which has five more daily flights than it had a year ago, showed a 1 percent increase in traffic to 503,289 passengers. United Airlines, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, was up 3.9 percent to 241,951 and No. 4 Delta was up 5 percent to 214,614 passengers.
Only No. 5 American Airlines showed a decrease in the number of passengers, falling 8.6 percent to 183,688. American decreased the number of flights it operates to Las Vegas from 26 to 23 a day, resulting in an 11 percent drop in the number of seats coming into the market to 3,687.
Ten other airlines showed declines from February 2004 to last month, including Continental (3.4 percent), bankrupt US Air (8.5), Alaska (3.6), Midwest Express (2), bankrupt Aloha (43.4), Spirit (58.9), JetBlue (2.1), Skywest (5.2), bankrupt ATA Airways (46) and Aviacsa (2.4). Aloha and Spirit dramatically cut flights, from two to one a day for Aloha and from three to one a day for Spirit.
ATA Airways is using smaller aircraft on its routes and has cut two flights a week from its schedule.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Airways, in the midst of a growth plan, reported a 53.9 percent increase in the number of passengers it served year over year in February to 52,822. It is now the No. 10 commercial carrier at McCarran.
Jetsgo Airlines, a Canadian carrier that had a 16.9 percent increase in traffic in February, ceased operations March 10. Competitors Air Canada and America West are accommodating Jetsgo customers on its Toronto route.
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