International arrivals boost passenger counts at Las Vegas airport

The surge of international passenger arrivals at Harry Reid International Airport continued in April, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Thursday.

The airport serving Las Vegas reported 4.9 million passengers for the month, a 1.5 percent increase over a year ago.

Of that total, 322,013 passengers arrived at and departed from international destinations, a 17.1 percent increase over April 2023.

Domestic traffic was flat at 4.5 million passengers.

For the first four months of 2024, air passenger traffic at Reid is up 1.6 percent to 16.6 million passengers. International traffic is up 23.6 percent for the year so far while domestic arrivals and departures are up 0.5 percent.

Canadian airlines have carried the most passengers to and from Las Vegas, county statistics show.

Discount carrier Westjet led the pack with 77,737 passengers while Air Canada (58,745), Flair Airlines (33,748), Porter Airlines (7,485) and Canada Jetlines (2,790) contributed most to international flying to Las Vegas.

Mexican air carriers Volaris (28,631 passengers), Vivaaerobus (18,364) and Aeromexico (8,977) paced service to and from Mexico.

The top overseas air carriers serving Reid are British Airways, which carried 28.732 passengers in April, its British rival, Virgin Atlantic (13,553), KLM, which operates nonstop to and from Amsterdam (12,469) and Korean Air, with nonstop service to and from Seoul, South Korea (10,470).

Reid International will welcome a new foreign carrier in October after Irish operator Aer Lingus earlier in May announced nonstop flights three times a week between Las Vegas and Dublin.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines continues to dominate domestic flying to and from Reid. The airline flew 1.8 million passengers in April, an 11.3 percent increase over a year ago.

No. 3 Delta Air Lines and No. 4 United Airlines reported double-digit percentage increases for the month, but discounter No. 2 Spirit reported a 20.6 percent decline to 597,594 passengers for the month.

The one airport category showing the most declines in April and overall in 2024 was the westside charter terminals and helicopters.

Passenger counts in that category were down 7.3 percent to 76,850 passengers in April. For the first four months of the year, passenger levels are down 7.8 percent.

While Reid officials did not want to speculate about the decline, a company representative familiar with westside terminal operations said the downturn is the result of pilot and maintenance worker shortages.

Airlines that can offer larger salaries often entice helicopter and charter pilots and maintenance workers to take jobs with them, leaving air tour operators scrambling for personnel.

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