McCarran passenger count increases for back-to-back months

By Kyle B. Hansen

Friday, March 18, 2011 | 11:48 a.m.

Passenger traffic increased at McCarran International Airport for the second straight month in February, the first time in more than a year the airport has seen back-to-back increases.

The airport saw 2,915,992 arriving and departing passengers in February, officials said Friday. That’s a 2.4 percent increase from February 2010, when the airport served 2,848,833 passengers.

February’s increase follows a 5 percent increase in January at McCarran, compared to the previous year.

Last year, the airport’s passenger count dropped 1.8 percent to about 39.8 million passengers, the smallest decrease since the airport hit a record high in 2007 with more than 47.7 million passengers.

So far this year, the airport has served more than 6 million passengers, a 3.7 percent jump from the same period in 2010.

While the airport as a whole saw an increase in February, news from individual airlines was varied, with two of the five busiest carriers at McCarran reporting decreases.

Southwest, by far the busiest airline at McCarran, had a 2.1 percent increase, carrying 1,143,595 passengers for the month.

Delta had a 0.7 percent increase, US Airways had a 0.9 percent decrease, United had a 10.1 percent decrease and American had a 2.5 percent increase in passenger counts.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air saw a 7.2 percent decrease in traffic at McCarran, serving 139,263 passengers for the month.