Reid Airport set a big record in October

The question now becomes how long the record will stand with arrivals for November’s Formula One race due to be counted in about a month.

The Clark County Department of Aviation on Wednesday reported that 5.5 million passengers flew in and out of the airport serving Las Vegas.

That total beat the previous record of 5.2 million passengers in October 2022 and this year’s best to date, 5 million in May.

Some of the biggest events during the month that drew visitors to Sin City included the 2023 SEMA Show, which attracted 160,000 attendees, two Raiders home games, the Global Gaming Expo and U2’s residency at the Sphere.

“October 2023 was the busiest month ever as Harry Reid International Airport served 5.47 million passengers,” said Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation.

“Not only was domestic travel at unprecedented volumes, more than 300,000 passengers traveled on international flights in a single month for the first time since January 2020 — a very encouraging sign of global aviation recovery,” she said in an emailed statement. “As 2023 passenger volume continues to outpace 2022’s levels, we are seeing the impact of our community’s growth and its evolution into the sports and entertainment capital of the world. Even with this increased demand, the Clark County Department of Aviation system continues to rise to the occasion and provide a world-class customer experience.”

The 5.5 million passengers counted in October was 5.7 percent more than a year ago. For the month, domestic passengers were up 5.5 percent to 5.1 million while international arrivals were up 10.2 percent to 315,147.

Southwest Airlines continued to lead the market with nearly 2 million passengers for the month, a record, up 14.7 percent from a year ago.

Also up by a double-digit percentage was No. 3 Delta Air Lines, up 15.9 percent to 479,976. No. 2 Spirit Airlines was up 6.4 percent to 804,732 passengers.

On the international side, Canadian discount carrier Westjet was up 52.9 percent to 91,179 passengers with No. 2 Air Canada down 24.8 percent to 52,445.

The top overseas operator was No. 4 British Airways with 28,082 passengers, which was nosed out by Mexican discount carrier No. 3 Volaris, 28,944.

For the first 10 months of 2023, passenger numbers are well on track to surpass 2022’s record 52.7 million passengers. At the end of October, year-to-date passenger counts were at 48 million, 9.7 percent ahead of 2022’s 43.7 million.

If November, in fact, is a record thanks to F1 arrivals, the 2022 total could be eclipsed in 11 months.

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