Passenger traffic at McCarran up again in latest report, officials say

On the heels of a record-breaking 2017, passenger traffic continued to grow at McCarran International Airport during the first month of the new year, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Wednesday.

More than 3.77 million airline passengers flew through the nation’s eighth-busiest airport last month, a 2.7 percent increase from January 2017. Growth was buoyed by upticks in both domestic and international travel, airport officials said.

More than 3.42 million passengers boarded or arrived on domestic flights last month, a 2.4 percent jump from a year earlier. International flights arriving or departing McCarran carried 277,571 travelers, a 3.4 percent increase from a year earlier.

If the increases continue through the end of 2018, then McCarran International could potentially break a record set last year with 48.5 million airline passengers.

Despite declines reported by Delta and United airlines, domestic passenger into McCarran was bolstered by increases from Southwest, Spirit, American, Alaska and Frontier, according to the aviation department.

Among international carriers, Air Canada reported 6.1 percent increase in traffic with 62,886 passengers last month, while Canadian carrier WestJet saw a relatively flat increase of 0.1 percent with 72,646 passengers.

Virgin Atlantic Airways reported a 19.9 percent jump in traffic with 12,305 passengers. British Airways carried 26,352 passengers in January, a 1 percent decrease from last year.

Korean Air was down 1.7 percent with 11,112 passengers. Chinese budget carrier Hainan reported a 23.5 percent drop in traffic with 3,174 passengers.

Mexican carrier Interjet reported an 8.9 percent increase to 15,912 passengers in January, while Aeromexico had a 17.7 percent decline to 14,615 passengers. Volaris reported 25.2 percent drop in January to 14,877 passengers.

Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.