US Airways to cut flights out of McCarran

By Richard N. Velotta

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009 | 3:23 p.m.

US Airways, the second-busiest air carrier at McCarran International Airport, is cutting six daily flights to five destinations beginning in early May.

The suburban Phoenix-based airline will discontinue daily flights to Baltimore; Portland, Ore.; Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta; and two daily flights to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The cuts are part of the airline’s strategy to reduce its overall seat capacity. US Airways will offer one-stop flights to the five destinations through its Phoenix, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. hubs.

Earlier this month, US Airways confirmed that it would cut dozens of jobs at McCarran in a nationwide trimming affecting 10 airports. Chief executive Doug Parker said 233 positions would be cut nationwide with Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Tucson, Ariz., being the hardest hit.

The most recent flight cuts will reduce its presence to an average of 63 daily flights from 69 and the airline will reduce the number of cities it serves nonstop from 28 to 23.

Other carriers serve the markets with nonstop flights where US Airways is making cuts.

Southwest Airlines has three daily flights to Baltimore. Three Canadian airlines offer round trips to Calgary, including two a day on WestJet, nine a week on Air Canada and two a week on Sunwing Airlines.

WestJet and has two flights a day and Air Canada has two a week to and from Edmonton. Southwest and Alaska Airlines each have 20 flights a week to and from Portland.

To and from Kennedy Airport, four round trips a day are offered by JetBlue, 26 a week by Delta Air Lines and 13 a week by Virgin America.

US Airways has steadily decreased its presence at McCarran over the last 18 months.

The airline once had about 140 daily round trips in and out of Las Vegas. At one time, US Airways operated a night hub at McCarran, connecting travelers to other destinations at the local airport in the late evening. The night hub was eliminated last summer when fuel costs soared and it became more economical to ground planes than fly them with empty seats.

Last month, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the airline indicated it would cut capacity by 8 percent to 10 percent in 2009, but at the time it didn’t say whether Las Vegas would be affected.