Transportation

Committee weighs bill that would remove state transportation overseers: Monday, April 29, 2013; By Cy Ryan; Constructing the $600 million freeway between Reno and Carson City sticks in the craw of Clark County officials who maintain the highway needs of Southern Nevada are being ignored.

Domestic air traffic down, foreign travel up in March at Las Vegas airport: Monday, April 29, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport was flat in March compared with a year ago, with strong international and air tour operations offsetting a slight dip in domestic travel to Las Vegas. The Clark County Aviation Department reported 3.7 million passengers in March, a 0.7 percent increase over last year. For the first quarter, traffic was down 1.4 percent to 9.8 million passengers.

Construction underway on delayed Cactus Avenue interchange: Monday, April 29, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Work has begun on a new freeway interchange on Interstate 15 that will provide additional access to the Southern Highlands area and relieve traffic on other interchanges in the southern part of the city.

FAA: Air traffic system soon at full operation: Saturday, April 27, 2013; Associated Press; The Federal Aviation Administration said that the U.S. air traffic system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening after lawmakers rushed a bill through Congress allowing the agency to withdraw furloughs of air traffic controllers and other workers.

Southwest to start charging ‘no shows’ who don’t cancel flights: Thursday, April 25, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the busiest air carrier at McCarran International Airport, rode record first-quarter revenue and moderated fuel prices to post a profit that narrowed from a year ago.

Allegiant Travel reports earnings of $31.9 million in 1st quarter: Wednesday, April 24, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel, parent company of Allegiant Air, today reported its 41st straight profitable quarter, posting double-digit percentage increases in revenue, earnings and earnings per share.

Ever get the feeling the Las Vegas cab industry is long-hauling regulators?: Wednesday, April 24, 2013; J. Patrick Coolican:; By J. Patrick Coolican; Welcome to Las Vegas. Now I’m going to steal $10 from you. That’s the message we’re sending to thousands of tourists every year who get in a cab at McCarran International Airport and are taken to their hotel the long way. At least when the hotels take the tourists’ money, it’s based on a bet whose odds are well known. But the cabbies are just flat-out stealing, and our political system is so inept that it refuses or is unable to act.

Cab company rips the results of long-hauling report: Tuesday, April 23, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; State auditors critical of the taxi industry and Nevada Taxicab Authority regulators who oversee it “have gone psycho on long-hauling” and haven’t analyzed audit data properly, operators of Southern Nevada’s second largest taxi group say.

Virgin America's Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas flight isn't the fastest one Sir Richard Branson will see this week: Tuesday, April 23, 2013; Q&A:; By Richard N. Velotta; Virgin America doesn’t do anything halfway when it comes to promoting new service and amenities, and Monday’s launch of three daily flights between Los Angeles and Las Vegas was no exception. Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson is no stranger to Las Vegas. He’s known worldwide as an adventurer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and on Monday, he took six questions from the Sun.

Audit: Cabbies soaked passengers $14.8 million by long-hauling: Monday, April 22, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; An audit by a state agency found nearly a quarter of taxi trips from the Las Vegas airport in 2012 involved illegal long-hauling in which passengers were overcharged an estimated $14.8 million. A report issued today by the audit division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau said of 2,730 trip sheets reviewed by auditors, 614 of them — 22.5 percent — included reports of drivers taking passengers on a longer route than necessary.

Las Vegas airport braces for potential logjams from FAA cutbacks: Monday, April 22, 2013; From staff and wire reports; Las Vegas could see delays in flights to and from Southern California airports as the result of FAA budget cuts that have already led to cascading delays along the East Coast this morning.

Small airline promoting seasonal flights to France: Wednesday, April 17, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; XL Airways France, a small European carrier that has offered seasonal nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Paris since 2010, is increasing efforts to attract Southern Nevada passengers to fly to France through an old-school network — travel agents.

Work on foot bridge in North Las Vegas to cause road closure: Tuesday, April 16, 2013; By Sun Staff; A section of Las Vegas Boulevard will be shut from about 9 p.m. Wednesday to about 5 a.m. Thursday in North Las Vegas for work on a pedestrian bridge.

Nevada driver’s licenses could be issued for 8 years: Tuesday, April 16, 2013; By Cy Ryan; Drivers in Nevada would be allowed to renew their licenses every eight years, instead of every four, under a bill that has passed the Senate Transportation Committee.

Five fronts on the North-South battle at the Legislature: Monday, April 15, 2013; Nevada Legislature 2013:; By Andrew Doughman; Fairness may be in the eye of the beholder, but some eyes are more equal than others at the Nevada Legislature. This year’s legislative session again features a number of ideas and proposals that would send state money sluicing south from Carson City to Clark County.