Las Vegas airport sees 6.5% passenger increase in February

McCarran International Airport saw 3.86 million passengers in February, breaking an 11-month streak of surpassing 4 million people flying in and out of Las Vegas.

It was a 6.5 percent increase over the prior February’s 3.63 million passengers, according to data released Wednesday by the Clark County Department of Aviation.

COVID-19 concerns curtailed travel toward the end of the month, according to airport spokesman Joseph Rajchel.

“We would also like to acknowledge that these numbers may seem hard to reconcile with current events,” Rajchel said in an email. “We anticipate seeing a much clearer impact of COVID-19 in the March passenger numbers, which will be released at the end of April.”

Southwest Airlines, McCarran’s largest carrier, saw 1.23 million passengers, a 5.6 percent dip from 2019 counts of 1.29 million, largely tied to the continued grounding of Boeing MAX airplanes.

Low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines jumped from 330,266 passengers in February 2019 to 404,517 last month, representing a 22.5 percent increase.

Delta Air Lines saw a 12 percent year-over-year increase, going from 355,283 passengers in February 2019 to 395,973 last month.

Sun Country Airlines was the only other domestic carrier to see a passenger decrease for the month, dipping 5.7 percent with 34,923 passengers last month, compared to 37,051 in February 2019.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.