McCarran flier traffic rises slightly in April

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport inched up less than 1 percent in April, with traffic at the international terminal showing the most robust increase.

Figures released Tuesday by the Clark County Department of Aviation show that more than 3.9 million passengers used the airport during April, bringing the total for the year to 15.2 million, a 3.2 percent increase over the 2006 pace.

Delta Air Lines, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, was among the biggest winners in April among the airlines. The company posted a 10 percent increase over April 2006, while the other carriers in the top five at McCarran showed flat or declining traffic.

Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at the airport, increased less than 1 percent for the month, moving 1.3 million passengers. Southwest’s year-to-date total is up 1.6 percent over 2006 to 5 million passengers.

Although domestic traffic was flat, flights in and out of foreign countries increased nearly 13 percent in April to more than 191,000 passengers.

Air Canada and Mexicana, two of the biggest foreign carriers at McCarran, each posted 10 percent increases for the month. For the year Air Canada is up 11.5 percent over the 2006 pace and Mexicana up 3.4 percent.

So far this year nearly 712,000 scheduled passengers used McCarran’s terminal two, the terminal that handles international traffic. That’s up from 647,000 at the same point in 2006, a gain of 10 percent.

Allegiant, a Las Vegas-based airline that specializes in bringing tourists to Nevada from small towns across America, posted a 31 percent increase in April when it hauled nearly 143,000 people to and from McCarran.