Facelift for Concourse C at McCarran airport set to begin
With gates being taken out of commission due to repaving outside Concourse C, McCarran International Airport will launch a $13 million interior renovation.
Most noticeable to passengers of Southwest Airlines, which takes all of the concourse, will be the new gate signs, lights, ceiling tile, carpet and restroom fixtures. In addition, the airport will apply new window tinting and replace the air conditioning controls to try to moderate indoor temperatures that rise at different spots in the heat of the summer, depending on the time of day.
Further, gate C-18 will be taken out of service and replaced by a Pei Wei Asian diner and a Life is Good apparel and novelty store. Clark County aviation director Randall Walker has said in the past that Concourse C has too few retail outlets for the 14 million passengers a year who use it.
Last year, Southwest flew 15.7 million people in and out of Las Vegas, by far the largest of any airline. In past years, about 10 percent of its planes used Concourse B and the rest went to C, but that shifted in 2010 due to the repaving project. The airport does not break out Southwest passenger counts by concourse.
When it opened in 1985, this wing of the airport housed traditional airlines. Southwest runs more daily flights through each gate than other airlines, so Walker said Concourse C is now running at about double its designed capacity.
The airport has replaced pieces of Concourse C over the past decade, but has not done a complete refurbishment.
"Even the best facilities wear down over time, and these exterior ramp repairs make this a perfect opportunity to make interior improvements," Walker said in a prepared statement.
The project will start next week and progress in three phases until it is finished at the end of next year.
The $30 million in work outside involves ripping out and repaving the concrete apron around the concourse, where the planes taxi and park. Gates 1-7 were closed last July as work started and are due to reopen next week. The other gates will be covered in two phases, due to be finished in about a year.
Contact reporter Tim O’Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.