Passenger traffic at McCarran surges nearly 6 percent in September
Arrivals and departures surged nearly 6 percent at McCarran International airport in September, the airport said in a statement.
The Las Vegas airport, ninth busiest in the U.S., recorded nearly 3.8 million passengers in September compared with about 3.6 million in the same month a year ago.
Through the first nine months of the year, passenger traffic at McCarran has grown 5 percent. Some 33.86 million passengers have passed through the airport through September of this year compared with 32.26 million in the same period in 2014.
Domestic travel was up 6 percent in September, airport officials said, with the passenger count at 3.38 million compared with 3.18 million. International travel during the month rose 4 percent, with nearly 308,000 passengers compared with about 296,000 a year ago.
For the year, however, international growth is outpacing domestic growth by percentage.
The international passenger count totals about 2.63 million for the year compared with 2.49 million for the same period in 2014, a gain of 5.6 percent.
Passenger numbers for domestic travel total about 30.51 million for the first ninth months of this year compared with 29 million for the first nine months of 2014, an increase of 4.9 percent.
“We have remained cautiously optimistic as passenger traffic has modestly, but steadily, improved, resulting in a trend of year-over-year growth for the past four years,” airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said via email. “The 2014 passenger total of 42.8 million marked a 2.4 percent increase from the previous year. Now, three-quarters of the way through 2015 we are seeing a year-to-date comparative growth rate nearly double that at 5 percent, putting us on track to hit, if not exceed, the 44 million mark.”
For September, the top five scheduled airlines serving McCarran were:
• Southwest, with 1.48 million passengers compared with 1.42 million in the same month of 2014, an increase of 4 percent.
• United, with 320,785 passengers compared with 318,320 in the same month of 2014, an increase of 0.8 percent.
• Delta, with 296,532 passengers compared with 289,477 in the same month of 2014, an increase of 2.4 percent.
• Deep discounter Spirit, with 245,423 passengers compared with 208,214 in the same month of 2014, an increase of nearly 18 percent.
• American, with 222,980 passengers compared with 229,505 in the same month of 2014, a decrease of 2.8 percent.
“Looking ahead to 2016, the current number of scheduled seats into market for the first quarter of the year is up, so there is good reason to believe that the passenger traffic growth trend will continue into the new year,” Crews said.
