McCarran passenger count falls for 16th month

Friday, July 17, 2009 | 4:52 p.m.

June numbers from McCarran International Airport

Passenger counts at McCarran International Airport dropped in June for the 16th straight month as the Las Vegas economy continued to struggle, according to numbers released this afternoon.

The Clark County Aviation Department reported 3.4 million passengers using McCarran last month, an 11.4 percent decrease from June 2008.

For the year to date, passenger traffic is off 11.8 percent, amounting to 2.7 million fewer passengers traveling through McCarran in the first six months of the year compared to last year.

Southwest Airlines, the busiest carrier at McCarran, showed a 4.2 percent decline in June to 1.3 million passengers. For the year, Southwest's traffic is down 5.1 percent.

Passenger counts using US Airways, the No. 2 operator at McCarran, declined 33 percent for the year, a drop of 37.9 percent this June compared to June 2008.

American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, showed a monthly and year-to-date rise in passengers with a 15.5 percent increase in June compared to a 4.5 percent increase for this year. Last month's increase translates into 194,382 passengers in June compared to 168,444 for the month in 2008.

United Airlines, the No. 3 carrier at McCarran, was off by 4.2 percent. Overall this year United has been down 10.4 percent in passengers through McCarran.

The year-to-date passenger count at McCarran is down 2.7 million compared to last year, at 20.2 million.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By texexnv

7/17/09 at 5:10 p.m.

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But people would rather take a maglev to get to LV... What a waste of taxpayer funds just to keep Reid in the headlines.
By Nick

7/17/09 at 6:45 p.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By stevem

7/17/09 at 9:34 p.m.

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this is the only number that matters. no steve bottfeld, no blow-hard p.r. guy or politician. no "expert" at unlv just trying to get their name in the paper, nobody that has some crystal ball.

until this tourism number gets positive...vegas will never recover.
By skerlahdee

7/18/09 at 12:19 a.m.

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AA is up. Why?
By Katie

7/18/09 at 12:39 a.m.

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Nick
Gosh, you're a classy guy. Yeah....that's why they want to put in that train for ignorant morons like you who think it's the most wonderful thing.
By Katie

7/18/09 at 12:41 a.m.

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Another reason that the passenger count is down is because there have been many flights to Vegas taken off the airlines' schedules. My favorite red eye flight out of LAS back east on American no longer exists. THe times I've taken it, there was never an empty seat.
By DessertSun

7/18/09 at 1:05 a.m.

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Hey Nick,

Why don't you take a train and LEAVE! Your the moron! And another thing dip stick, this article has nothing to do about our senator so why the hell you even bring that up? Do you find it hard to stay focus??
By scouser

7/18/09 at 5:54 a.m.

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I normally visit 4 times a year. I am not visiting this year I guess I just got bored of putting 20's into tighter machines.