McCarran sees first year-over-year decline travelers since 2017

Cameron Byrd of San Jose, Cal. inspects his luggage at baggage claim in McCarran International Airport on Friday, October, 19, 2018. (Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Vegas88s

McCarran International Airport had a rare year-over-year decline in monthly passenger volume in September.

Despite the decline, there were more than 4 million travelers for the seventh straight month, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Tuesday.

The department said arriving and departing passengers totalled 4.06 million, a 0.4 percent decline from September 2017. It was the first year-over-year decline in volume since February 2017. But McCarran preserved its run of months above the 4 million mark that began in March.

A spokeswoman for the airport said that while officials can’t definitively attribute the decline to any one factor, there were major weather events that likely impacted travel last month, including Hurricane Florence.

At the end of the third quarter of 2018, McCarran remains on pace to shatter 2017’s record volume of 48.5 million passengers, with the total standing at 37.3 million after nine months, 2.4 percent ahead of last year.

International arrivals continued to be strong in September, up 3.2 percent to 338,210 with the 2017 total up 5.3 percent.

But domestic counts were off 0.6 percent to 3.6 million and the airport’s westside private terminals and helicopter tours were down 2.3 percent to 98,035 passengers for the month.

Southwest Airlines continues to be the dominant commercial air carrier at McCarran with 1.45 million passengers for the month, a 2.7 percent decline from September 2017.

Spirit Airlines’ strong September performance (up 35.2 percent to 390,089 passengers) vaulted it to the No. 4 position ahead of United Airlines, but behind Delta and American.

Canadian carriers Westjet and Air Canada continued to dominate international travel with 81,309 and 75,362 passengers in September, respectively.

Virgin Atlantic (31,460 passengers) and British Airways (30,603) highest among overseas airlines for the month.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.