Routes World 2022 spurs desire for more international flights

If you could jump on a nonstop flight to anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Southern Nevada tourism leaders got a chance to think about that last week when Routes World 2022 made its way to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Routes World is like speed-dating between cities, airports and airlines. Destinations from around the globe set up colorful and attractive exhibit booths, and airline executives roam the aisles and set up appointments to discuss what markets make the most sense for them to serve.

Meetings are scheduled every 30 minutes, and there are countdown clocks on the walls that will chime when a session is about to end, just like the sound you hear at airports preceding a flight announcement.

Las Vegas made history at Routes World 2022 because it became the first city to host the event twice. Routes World arrived here in 2013, and that event, too, was historic because it was the first time the event had ever been staged in North America.

Home-field advantage

Host cities have a home-field advantage because executives get a chance to see local attractions firsthand. Executives enjoyed the Vegas experience with tours of resorts and attractions such as Allegiant Stadium, dining at local restaurants by celebrity chefs and, on this particular weekend, a taste of NASCAR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

What better way is there to showcase Las Vegas and what airline customers can enjoy than to see it in person?

While domestic air traffic has more than recovered in Las Vegas — Harry Reid International Airport now has 128 nonstop routes to cities, or 12 more than it had pre-pandemic — international lift is what’s on the city’s mind now.

Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said international travel is about 85 percent recovered. The international guest is an important demographic to Las Vegas because travelers from abroad tend to spend more time — and more money — when they come here.

Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, which manages Reid International, didn’t have a wish list from which she wants to see flights. She wants the world.

But Hill offered some specific targets.

“Demand from Tokyo to Las Vegas is the largest in the United States that doesn’t have a direct connection,” Hill said. “We think that’s something that’s a real opportunity for one of the airlines to jump into. We think there’s opportunity in South America. The Copa (Airlines) connection through Panama has jumped because of that.

“We once had a direct flight to São Paulo (Brazil). We’d like to resume that. We think there’s opportunity in the Middle East and western Asia because it’s just hard to get to now. We’re talking to several airlines about how to resolve that. The U.K. and Europe are big markets, so there’s lots and lots of opportunity there,” he said.

Asia routes

In the late 1990s, Northwest Airlines and Japan Airlines offered nonstop flights between Tokyo and Las Vegas. Northwest was here first with its Boeing 747s, and when Japan Airlines began competing with its own jumbo jets, there simply weren’t enough passengers to go around.

Singapore Airlines once had a nonstop flight between Las Vegas and Hong Kong. Both the Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines operations suffered as a result of flu outbreaks in Asia.

Korean Air, which offers the most capacity to Asia via Seoul, South Korea, is building back to pre-pandemic levels after COVID-19 wiped out hundreds of flights.

Another Asia flight that former Lt. Govs. Lorraine Hunt-Bono and Brian Krolicki worked hard to initiate was a nonstop between Las Vegas and Beijing, China, eventually served by Hainan Airlines. China’s COVID-19 restrictions all but killed that route, but Hill says “never say never” about the route someday returning.

“The China market has to open back up in order for that route to even be considered,” Hill said. “There’s some rebuilding that has to be done, but China is such a big market, and it’s an important market for us here. It’s a ways away to even really begin the conversation around trying to start back up.”

Japan seems to be ripe for new nonstops, especially as the country begins efforts to develop integrated resorts.

The Middle East, particularly Dubai, appears to be a market on the verge of direct service from here.

Las Vegas should know within a few months whether Routes World yielded any air capacity fruit.

The current KLM Royal Dutch Airlines route between Amsterdam and Las Vegas had its beginnings after Routes World 2013.

If Reid International is able to secure more flights to Las Vegas, it could quicken the need for a Las Vegas reliever airport, but that’s a story for another day. Vassiliadis said Reid is months away from starting the planning process for a new airport in Ivanpah Valley, though environmental permitting is already underway.

But the planning may have to happen sooner if Routes World was a big success.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.