McCarran passenger volume falls 15 percent

Decline extends into 12th month, felt across all major carriers

Sam Morris / File photo

The ground control tower of McCarran International Airport is silhouetted against a sunset as an aircraft takes off. The airport saw a steep drop in passengers in February compared to the same month in 2008.

By Mary Manning (contact)

Thursday, March 19, 2009 | 2:02 p.m.

See the latest passenger numbers from McCarran

McCarran passenger volume declines again (2-25-2009)
Southwest to begin flights to Boston (2-19-2009)
US Airways to cut flights out of McCarran (2-19-2009)
McCarran traffic drops nearly 8 percent last year (1-23-2009)

McCarran International Airport

Passenger volume declined at McCarran International Airport for the 12th consecutive month in February when compared to the previous year, according to passenger numbers released today.

Airport officials said 3,036,715 passengers passed through McCarran's gates in February, a 15.2 percent drop from February 2008.

There are an average of 481 scheduled flights a day arriving at McCarran.

Of the top five airlines serving the Las Vegas market, American Airlines based in Fort Worth, Texas, showed the smallest decrease in the number of passengers coming to Las Vegas. The airline, the No. 5 carrier to this market with an average of 21 flights a day, had 160,793 passengers, a 2 percent decline from February 2008 when 164,064 passengers were counted.

The biggest decline among the top five was No. 2 US Airways, which had 34.5 percent fewer passengers, at 394,477, compared with February 2008. The carrier based in Tempe, Ariz., averages 72 flights a day and has announced further cuts in capacity to Las Vegas coming in May.

Southwest Airlines based in Dallas, the market leader in Las Vegas, had 1.15 million passengers in February, a 9.3 percent decline from the past year. The airline averages 218 flights a day.

Delta declined 14.5 percent for February, carrying 172,517 passengers, compared to 201,753 in 2008.

The number of passengers through the airport this year is off about 15.4 percent compared to the same time period last year.

Despite the decline compared to last year, passenger number in February increased from December and January numbers.

In addition to the standard passenger statistics pages, this month I wanted to note that on a per-day average, McCarran's February 2009 total improved by 11.3 percent vs. January 2009's total, and was up 6.3 percent vs. December 2008's daily average.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

By afveteran

3/19/09 at 3:38 p.m.

Suggest removal

High airline ticket prices and recession woes. A bad combination.
By jfnance32

3/19/09 at 4:38 p.m.

Suggest removal

"High airline ticket prices "

Which planet do you exactly live on?

Roundtrip from New York or Chicago to Las Vegas is around $200.

It is the recession and the lack of people having money and jobs that is hurting business.
By neiman1

3/19/09 at 4:55 p.m.

Suggest removal

Do they count passengers that have a destination of Las Vegas anywhere. Southwest uses stop overs and Las Vegas is a stop for many passengers just to connect farther. Is the 9% drop in passengers at McCarrion relative to the number of visitors?
By getalife

3/19/09 at 5:24 p.m.

Suggest removal

From personal experience, I fly 1-2 times per week for work, McCarren is like a ghost town. I fly Southwest 95% of the time, the flights are less than full. I recently heard a McCarren official say that at the peak of usage McCarren was running 15% above normal. The "friendly" skies are more like the "empty" skies.
By Harley

3/19/09 at 7:13 p.m.

Suggest removal

Those I know that aren't required to fly won't, until the TSA is abolished.

As McCarran goes so goes Vegas.
By tcbinkc

3/21/09 at 3:31 a.m.

Suggest removal

Good, less fuel consumption being used. That should make the hypocrite enviro-libs happy.
I fly almosy every week and more often than not the flights are pretty full or full. Maybe not to LV but to other destinations.

People not having jobs? 90% employment rate. The 10% that are unemployed, 3% of that figure are static and will always be unemployed.

Keep statistics in perspective.

Last time I checked if you scored a 90% on a test it was an "A".