Airport suffers another decline

McCarran visits off again in October

By HOWARD STUTZ
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Passenger counts at McCarran International Airport continue to plummet.

More than 3.51 million passengers came through McCarran during October, a 1.3 percent drop from more than 3.56 million passengers in the same month a year ago.

For the first 10 months of 2009, McCarran has seen passenger counts fall 9.4 percent from a year earlier.

McCarran has served more than 34.1 million passengers through October, compared with almost 37.7 million passengers for the first 10 months of last year.

Southwest Airlines, McCarran's busiest carrier, saw its passenger count increase 3.2 percent in October. US Airways, the airport's No. 2 airline, saw its passenger counts fall 31.4 percent in the month.

US Airways announced in October that it will cut flights to and from Las Vegas by nearly half starting in February as part of a realignment by the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier. The announcement was the second time in two years US Airways said it was cutting service in Las Vegas.

United Airlines and Delta Airlines both saw their passenger counts fall roughly 6 percent in October, but American Airlines, McCarran's fifth-ranked airline, recorded a 7.7 percent increase.

McCarran has had one monthly passenger increase since October 2007.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.