Allegiant to add a few more routes from McCarran

Allegiant Air expects to add three or four new destinations over the balance of the year from McCarran International Airport.

Andrew Levy, president of Allegiant Travel Co., which operates the airline, projected that Las Vegas would support as many as 20 more nonstop flights to small and midsized cities within a flying radius of about three hours, the Allegiant standard.

But as the airline expands its schedule in some of its other destination cities, the local expansion will be spread out over several years.

Allegiant finished 2010 with 45 routes out of Las Vegas after launching six new ones during the year. Two of its top destinations, Bellingham, Wash., and McAllen, Texas, pull international customers from Canada and Mexico respectively.

Allegiant’s passenger count rose 5.7 percent from 2009 to 1.95 million, putting it in fifth place among carriers at McCarran. Allegiant filled 90.3 percent of the seats in the 7,195 departures last year.