Rise in international traffic boosts McCarran numbers

McCarran International Airport has written another chapter in the saga of how foreign travelers are shaping Southern Nevada’s successful growth story.

Passenger traffic increased for the 15th straight month in November, driven again by double-digit percentage increases in international traffic.

The Clark County Aviation Department on Tuesday reported 3.4 million passengers for the month, a 2.3 percent increase over November 2013. The number of international passengers increased 12.8 percent for the month to 279,860.

For the year to date, passenger traffic is up 2.5 percent to 39.5 million and international travelers are up 12.8 percent to 3.1 million.

Based on historical traffic patterns and trends, McCarran should surpass 42 million passengers in 2014 — more than the number recorded in 2013, but short of the 47.7 million reported in record-setting 2007.

Current traffic is off from eight years ago because airlines have a greater ability to schedule strategically and reduce the number of flights into the market. In addition, some airlines operating in 2007 are no longer flying.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines continues to dominate at McCarran with 1.3 million passengers in November, a 4 percent increase over the same month a year ago. Southwest has flown 15.6 million passengers to and from Las Vegas — 39.5 percent of the airport’s total.

United and Delta, which underwent seasonal scheduling decreases and reduced aircraft size, had declines in November, but American and Spirit had slight increases.

For the year, deep-discounter Spirit is up 10.7 percent over 2013 with 2.1 million passengers.

Internationally, Canada-based WestJet shines in Las Vegas with a 3.7 percent increase in passenger traffic in November and a 9.1 percent increase in 2014.

In November, WestJet, the first international carrier to bring more than 1 million passengers to Las Vegas in a year in 2013, already hit the 1 million mark at McCarran in 11 months.

Air Canada, which has about half the passengers that WestJet carries to Las Vegas, is up 23.8 percent in 2014 to 578,626 passengers.

Other international carriers with robust 2014 numbers are Panama-based Copa Airlines, up 64.6 percent to 136,053 passengers, Great Britain’s Thomas Cook Airlines, up 54.1 percent to 51,458, Mexico’s Interjet, up 44.1 percent to 53,123 and Aeromexico, up 39.1 percent to 242,748.

Air tour operators flying from McCarran’s westside terminals are off 1.3 percent to 856,642 passengers, primarily because a major helicopter company, Heli-USA, discontinued operations in March.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta