Heading to Super Bowl in private jet? Only a small number of landing slots available
The dwindling number of landing slots at Southern Nevada airports should be no concern for pop star Taylor Swift and her legion of Swifties.
Even though a limited number of landing slots at Henderson Executive Airport and North Las Vegas Airport remain prior to Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 11, most of the prime arrival times already have been reserved — likely including one for Swift who may come to Sin City to cheer on boyfriend Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in the big game versus the San Francisco 49ers.
A Clark County Aviation Department spokesperson on Tuesday disputed published reports that airports are fully booked for arrivals prior to the game.
The New York Post on Monday said tech executives from the San Francisco Bay Area that are 49ers fans may have waited too long to arrange for landing slots for their private jets.
Aircraft parking at Henderson and North Las Vegas, where general aviation aircraft are encouraged to go, are full. Heidi Hayes, a representative of the Clark County Department of Aviation, said aircraft parking fees for the Super Bowl are unchanged from the standard rate of $20 to $150 a day, depending on the size of the plane.
Depending on the size of the planes, Reid, Henderson and North Las Vegas can accommodate around 400 aircraft.
The fixed-base operations at Harry Reid International Airport — Atlantic Aviation and Signature Aviation — did not return calls about their status.
There are still some landing slots available at Henderson and North Las Vegas for drop-and-go flights in which planes land, leave their passengers and then fly elsewhere to park. Special event fees for aircraft arriving and departing from Southern Nevada airports are in effect with the highest fee for most private aircraft set at a maximum of $3,000.
In addition to the three airports Clark County manages, the National Football League has listed Boulder City Municipal Airport as a prospective landing and parking destination.
A person familiar with Boulder City’s operations who said he is not authorized to speak to the media said Boulder City Airport is virtually filled to capacity. Parking space there is minimal — there’s only room for about 10 aircraft and the fixed-based operators at the airport have offered to sublease some of their space to pilots who want to fly in prior to the game.
“We were filled up weeks ago and we’ve gotten calls every day from people wanting to fly in for the game,” he said. “It’s a little disheartening that we can’t help them.”
He said Boulder City “will be a lot busier prior to the Super Bowl than for Formula One.”
The Post said many executives insist on flying in private jets and won’t use commercial flights. They say money is no object and pilots are asking more than $22,000 to provide private jet air transportation to Las Vegas.
Most of the entertainers involved in the Super Bowl halftime show and at various parties and events at local resorts leading up to game day made arrangements weeks ago and will have no problem getting to Las Vegas. Arrangements reportedly have been made for the arrival of Swift, who is performing in Tokyo the day before the game, but can make it to Las Vegas well before game time because of the 17-hour time difference between the two cities.
While commercial flying doesn’t appear to be an option for some executives, a third commercial air carrier has added flights to and from Las Vegas on the days before and after the game.
United Airlines joined American and Southwest in adding flights to and from Kansas City and Northern California.
Like American, United is scheduling special flight numbers to and from Kansas City to match up with the year of Swift’s birth, 1989, and the jersey numbers of Kelce and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 87 and 15.
Private aircraft parking is different from last year’s Super Bowl site, Glendale, Arizona, because there are more small private airports in the Phoenix area.
The city of Phoenix oversees four public airports — Sky Harbor International, the primary commercial airport, with mostly general aviation flying at airports in Deer Valley in north Phoenix, Goodyear in the southwest and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in the southeast.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.