Passenger downturn continues at McCarran

By Richard N. Velotta

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 | 3 a.m.

McCarran International Airport has now had declining monthly passenger traffic for a year and a half after the Clark County Aviation Department reported 9.8 percent fewer customers in August over the same month a year ago.

McCarran officials reported 3.5 million passengers used the airport that month. For 2009, traffic is off 11.3 percent to 27.3 million people compared with 2008.

US Airways, the No. 2 carrier at McCarran, paced the decline with 408,361 passengers for the month, 37.3 percent fewer than in August 2008.

Passenger counts are down at McCarran and nationwide as a result of capacity cuts by airlines attempting to match demand with the number of flights they operate.

Six of the 16 domestic carriers operating at McCarran showed traffic increases.

Virgin America, a 2-year-old San Francisco-based carrier that is expanding its presence nationwide, increased volume by 15.8 percent to 38,964 passengers in August. For the year, traffic is up 30.2 percent to 301,158 passengers.

Others showing increases in August were Sun Country, up 10.9 percent to 7,364 passengers; Northwest Airlines and Delta, up 27.6 percent to 140,063 and 2.6 percent to 196,863, respectively (the two airlines are merging, but their statistics are calculated separately); Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air, up 5.2 percent to 163,580; and American Airlines, the No. 5 carrier at the airport, up 3.7 percent to 196,710.

Southwest Airlines, the market leader at McCarran, showed a 2.8 percent decline for the month to 1.3 million passengers.

International arrivals also are down with much of the decline attributable to two carriers no longer flying to Las Vegas. British Midland discontinued its Manchester route in April and Mexico’s Aviacsa Airlines was temporarily grounded in June, then quit flying in July.

Several of the major operators showed declines — Air Canada down 7 percent to 30,306 passengers for the month, Korean Air down 12.7 percent to 5,143 passengers and Mexicana down 7.6 percent to 19,065. Germany-based Condor showed a 30.7 percent decline to 4,413 passengers in August.

But some international carriers have had upturns. Aeromexico was up 105.8 percent to 6,403 passengers for the month, Virgin Atlantic climbed 4.8 percent to 25,412 passengers and Canada’s WestJet Airlines is up 28.9 percent to 55,589 for the month.