Top priority: Las Vegas pursuing nonstop flights to Tokyo

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will target developing nonstop air service between Harry Reid International Airport and Tokyo when representatives meet with airline executives at Routes 2023 in Istanbul in October.

Considered the leading Asian destination without nonstop flights from Las Vegas, the cities were once linked by two competing airlines — Northwest Orient, which became Delta Air Lines, and Japan Airlines. Both served the Las Vegas market with Boeing 747 jets in the late 1990s.

Fletch Brunelle, the LVCVA’s vice president of marketing, said the LVCVA would have talks with international carriers serving Tokyo or domestic airlines with partners who fly there.

“We have had ongoing dialogue as to whether its domestic carriers that might bring service to Las Vegas directly or some of the international carriers that are associated with the domestics,” he said. “You look at United, which is associated with ANA (All Nippon Airways). You’ve got JAL (Japan Airlines), which is associated with American. We’re in ongoing conversations with those carriers about that market. Frankly, what’s happening at this moment as we look at the Far East, some of those markets are starting to recover regionally, similar to what the U.S. carriers did in the U.S. They’re doing the same thing in their local markets before they expand internationally with direct service.”

The LVCVA board unanimously authorized spending $386,000 for representatives to participate in the 2023 World Route Forum Exhibition in Istanbul in October. The Routes event was last conducted in Las Vegas last year.

Tokyo, Seoul top Asian markets

Tokyo is the top Asian origination-destination market for Las Vegas with an estimated 417 passengers a week flying on connecting flights at the end of 2023.

Seoul, South Korea, served with four flights a week from Las Vegas, ranks second. That’s expected to grow in September when Korean Air adds a fifth weekly flight between Reid and Seoul’s Incheon International Airport.

LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill said experience has shown that the market size doubles whenever a nonstop flight between markets is added.

“If you can make that flight directly to Las Vegas, the demand from that city doubles,” Hill said after Tuesday’s LVCVA board meeting.

“It’s an opportunity for airlines from all parts of the world to look at that and realize if we step in there, there are new customers for us. We’re not trying to take customers away from somebody else, there are new customers available. That helps Las Vegas, it helps the city and it helps the airline that’s providing the service.”

Hill said Tokyo service is a priority.

“It was (a priority) prior to the pandemic as well, and we had gotten to the point that we were very close to being able to announce a direct flight from Tokyo just before the pandemic hit,” he said. “International airlines are having to go through the same things that cities like Las Vegas are having to recover. They are back to bringing back flights that they once had. We are in conversations with airlines that could provide that direct service. We think that will happen over the next couple of years, but there’s still some work to do. It’s a top priority and a really big opportunity for everybody involved. Sooner or later, it’s going to happen.”

Reid most recovered

Joel Van Over, senior director of Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting, told the LVCVA’s board of directors that Reid was the most recovered airport in the world from the COVID-19 pandemic and that additional growth is on the horizon next year. By September, the number of seats coming into the market will reach more than 100,000 — the most to the market in history, he said.

In October 2022, the number of inbound seats to Las Vegas reached 97,001. Based on aviation planning data, the number will reach 101,832 seats in October 2023.

Van Over said aviation was a record breaker for the 2022-23 fiscal year. A total 34.1 million seats came into the market during those 12 months, with 161 nonstop routes and a total 25 different airlines, all records.

Van Over highlighted the point Hill made about the value of nonstop flights to Las Vegas using Huntsville, Alabama, as an example. Huntsville, which has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, had no nonstop flights to Las Vegas, and residents who wanted to make the trip either had to take one-stop trips on United, Delta or American airlines, or drive two hours to Nashville, Tennessee, to fly to Las Vegas.

When an upstart newcomer, discounter Breeze Airways, entered the market, the number of travelers from Huntsville to Las Vegas more than doubled.

In the past fiscal year, Van Over said, 37 new routes — 21 of them previously unserved — were added by 12 airlines adding 26,580 seats to the market.

The result has been a record year for passengers in 2022, 52.7 million, currently on pace to surpass that total in 2023.

In-season NBA tournament

In other business Tuesday, the LVCVA board unanimously approved spending $2.25 million to sponsor the NBA’s first in-season tournament in December.

All 30 NBA teams will participate in the tournament with initial games that will count in the standings played at NBA sites, and the semifinals and championship game will be played Dec. 7 and 9 at T-Mobile Arena.

The LVCVA expects the tournament to draw 26,000 out-of-town visitors to the games, resulting in an economic impact of $53.1 million.

Hill acknowledged the NBA’s partnership with Las Vegas with the city hosting preseason games in the city and rookies and second-year players participating in the NBA Summer League at UNLV.

The sponsorship agreement will provide the LVCVA with advertising, marketing and hospitality opportunities before, during and after the event.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X, formerly known as Twitter.