Las Vegas airport passenger numbers rise in first half of 2018

A Southwest Airline passenger jet takes off from McCarran International Airport in 2015. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Airline passenger traffic headed in and out of Las Vegas increased during the first half of 2018, potentially placing McCarran International Airport on track to break an all-time record for a second year in a row, according to figures released Friday.

Along with marking its busiest June on record, McCarran has logged gains in passenger traffic for 16 straight months, the Clark County Aviation Department reported.

More than 24.5 million passengers have departed or arrived at McCarran between January and June, a 3.1 percent increase from the same period last year, officials said.

Of that, more than 4.31 million travelers passed through the Las Vegas airport in June, topping a record set last year by roughly 119,000 passengers, or 2.8 percent.

If the incremental growth continues, McCarran could have a second consecutive record-breaking year, surpassing the 48.5 million airline passengers to pass through in 2017, Clark County Aviation Director Rosemary Vassiliadis said earlier this year.

More than 3.89 million passengers boarded or arrived on domestic flights last month, a 2.4 percent uptick from June 2017. International flights arriving or departing McCarran carried 323,885 travelers in June, a 5.2 percent jump from a year earlier.

Among the airport’s five busiest carriers, a 25.4 percent leap was reported by Spirit while United was up 12.7 percent compared to June 2017, the county’s aviation department said.

Smaller gains were reported by Delta and market-leader Southwest, while American logged a 2.8 percent decrease in traffic. Increases in domestic passenger traffic were also logged by Frontier and Sun Country, while Las Vegas-based Allegiant reported a decline.

Among international airlines, Canadian carrier WestJet saw a 1.3 percent increase in traffic with 75,406 passengers last month, while Air Canada was down 1.9 percent with 68,473 passengers.

Virgin Atlantic Airways reported a 2.5 percent decline in traffic with 29,017 passengers. British Airways carried 33,470 passengers in June, a 20.5 percent jump from last year, while British competitor Thomas Cook Airlines was down by a relatively flat 0.4 percent with 16,217 passengers.

Korean Air was up 11.4 percent with 10,293 passengers. Chinese carrier Hainan reported a 6.5 percent jump in traffic with 5,271 passengers.

Mexican carrier Interjet reported a 9.9 percent decrease to 11,963 passengers in June, while Aeromexico had an 8 percent drop to 15,178 passengers. Panamanian airline Copa reported a flat 0.9 percent increase in June with 8,803 passengers.

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