Monthly passenger traffic down 2.1% at Las Vegas airport
The lighter-than-last-year Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix turnout resulted in a 2.1 percent decline of passenger traffic at Harry Reid International Airport in November, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Tuesday.
The airport said 4.7 million passengers passed through Reid’s gates for the month and while domestic traffic was down 3.3 percent from a year ago, international arrivals and departures were up 16.2 percent.
The airport is still on a record pace for the highest annual passenger volume in history.
After 11 months, domestic passenger counts are up 0.8 percent to 49.3 million, while international is up 13.6 percent to 3 million. With private terminal and helicopter traffic down 2.9 percent for the year so far, the overall total is at 53.6 million, up 1.4 percent.
The largest annual traffic count occurred last year when 57.6 million passengers passed through the airport. The 2024 total is expected to be released by Clark County in January.
All but four domestic air carriers — Alaska, Breeze, Frontier and Hawaiian — were down in November. Market leader Southwest Airline was off 4.3 percent to 1.7 million passengers in November. But Southwest and three others among the top five domestic carriers have greater 11-month totals than a year ago. No. 3 Delta Air Lines is up 6 percent to 4.9 million passengers, No. 4 American is up 5.4 percent to 4.1 million and No. 5 United is up 3.9 percent to 3.9 million over last year.
No. 2 Spirit Airlines, which had a 10.4 percent decline in November, is down 4.1 percent to 7.4 million in 2024.
On the international side, several European and Latin American airlines had double- and triple-digit percentage increases for the month of November, a reflection of the popularity of the Formula One race with those countries. International arrivals on Edelweiss soared 136.8 percent in November and Vivaaerobus and Volaris, with flights to and from Mexico, also were up substantially. The airport’s largest overseas carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, were up slightly.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
