LOOKING IN ON: TOURISM

Monday, July 16, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

In blackjack, sometimes it's OK to push.

That's the way Las Vegas tourism officials see some of the recent strategic moves by Southwest Airlines, the carrier with the most flights serving McCarran International Airport.

In a bid to shore up recent weak financial performance, the Dallas-based airline announced it was repositioning its fourth-quarter schedule to add more flights in money-making markets and eliminating those that haven't performed as well.

For Las Vegas, the schedule shuffle means a loss of two round trips and a gain of two. Southwest will cut one of its two round trips to Long Island and one of 19 to Phoenix, but will add a second round trip to New Orleans and a third to St. Louis.

McCarran's most recent count of Southwest flights put the number at 227 a day, with 39.3 percent of the available seats in the market.

Reno wasn't quite as fortunate, losing three flights a day.

Southwest also plans to raise $1 billion in ancillary revenue over the next few years to offset higher fuel costs. The airline hasn't spelled out how it plans to do that, but charging passengers for assigned seats is on the table. So is selling food and possibly charging passengers for on-board Internet access.

Industry observers say an aggressive Southwest will be dangerous to competitors.

"I think they've sounded a warning bell to the rest of the industry," said Mike Boyd, an Evergreen, Colo.-based aviation analyst whose company, The Boyd Group, last year predicted a major Southwest overhaul on the horizon. "I think the most dangerous thing (chief executive officer) Gary Kelly said was that Southwest's survival is at stake. The rest of the industry knows it has a cornered beast on their hands and it's going to come out swinging."

When Benjamin Braddock, the protagonist in "The Graduate," was told that the future was in plastics, he probably had no idea that he was being schooled on what was ahead in the aviation industry.

All eyes were on Washington - Washington state, that is - last week when the Boeing Co. rolled out its new 787 Dreamliner, a jet that has the potential to change tourism patterns for cities such as ours.

Test flights are expected to begin next month with a service roll-out next year on the jumbo jet made of carbon composites - basically plastics - making the airliner lighter and more fuel-efficient.

The first version of the 787 will have a range allowing it to reach Las Vegas from Asia, Europe and South America.

Although one of the launch customers of the 787 will be Korean Air, which already offers nonstop flights between Seoul and Las Vegas, it isn't likely the new plane will be assigned that route, company officials said.

Boeing rival Airbus also is getting in on composite construction, promising to fly its comparable A350 jet by 2012. US Airways, the No. 2 operator in flights serving McCarran, has ordered some of those planes.

Boeing officials say the new technology will enable the company to build planes faster and that the interior will offer more comfortable pressurization so that passengers won't get as tired on board.

That's got to be great news for casino companies welcoming overseas arrivals after long flights.

Travelers seeking the cheapest air fare on flights to and from Las Vegas should take a look at www.airfaredig.com.

The site lists the lowest one-way fares to and from several destinations and provides a link to the site where you can buy tickets. Click on McCarran International Airport to find local fares.

"It's been a work in progress for about two years, but when I finally got everything together, it took me about three months to set up," said the site's designer, Mark Becker.

Becker, who uses "a wild combination of things" to track low fares, loves to travel, recently went to Europe and has logged some time in Central America.

Becker, by the way, will be a senior in high school next fall in Fergus Falls, Minn.