Keeping pace with January (at least it is not getting worse – could we be at a bottom?), the number of passengers passing through McCarran International airport slipped 15.2% behind the same month last year. That equates to a little over 500,000 fewer people arriving and departing from the airport. For the year, McCarran is pacing about 1 million fewer folks than the first two months of 2008.
Traffic in and out of McCarran International Airport fell yet again in November. In the largest percentage drop this year, the number of passengers fell by over 125,000, or 14.7 percent fewer than November of 2007. U.S. Airways again was the hardest hit seeing passengers fall by 31.4 percent. McCarran’s most prolific carrier, Southwest, took the second largest hit with numbers dropping by 10 percent.
According to a report released by the travel website Orbitz, Las Vegas McCarran International will see more travelers than any other domestic airport. We jumped 10 spots from last year’s list.
Second on the list is New York’s La Guardia followed by Chicago O’Hare.
And, for the second year in a row, Las Vegas also ranked as the number one desination for the Christmas Holiday, followed by Orlando and New York.
Bring on the tourists Santa!
Total passenger traffic in July was just over 3.9 million as compared to nearly 4.3 million in July of 2007. Out of the top five carriers servicing McCarran, only American Airlines was able to eek out a gain in passengers with a 3.6% growth over last year. Southwest fell 5.6%, United was down 8.9% and US Airways suffered the largest percentage drop at 17.3%.
Las Vegas drivers are once again near the bottom of a list when it comes to America’s best drivers. According to the Allstate Best Drivers Report, Las Vegas came in at 165 out of 200 cities. It found that Las Vegas drivers are likely to experience a car accident every 7.9 years, compared to the national average of every 10 years. Sioux Falls, Idaho drivers were ranked the safest. Do you agree with the report?
Ridership on the Las Vegas Monorail is off to a better start this year, with first quarter seeing an increase 19 percent over the first three months of 2007. The numbers are also better than 2006, but still below the 2.3 million rider level in the first quarter of 2005.
Total revenue for the first quarter was $7,346,743.
Read the complete press release here | Search the LasVegasNOW.com archives for Monorail articles
While the January report looked like an indication that tourism traffic may be softening, the February numbers at McCarran airport helped ease fears that Las Vegas blew that fear out of the water. Passenger traffic in MCarran rose 3.2 percent from February 2007 to February of this year, with over 3.5 million people arriving and departing Las Vegas. The February surge put the city back on track for passenger growth for the year, albeit a small 0.2 percent increase for the year to date. All eyes will be on the March numbers to see of the growth can continue.Read the entire report: McCarrans’ February Passenger Report (pdf)
It was a busy year at Las Vegas’ air transportation hub in 2007. Nearly 47.7 million people flew in or out of McCarran International last year, making 2007 the airport’s busiest in record. The number of passengers appeared to wane towards the end of the year, however, as the numbers of travelers fell 3.2 percent from December 2006 to December 2007.
That figure is about 900,000 higher than 2006, but was still not enough to get the Las Vegas Monorail Co. into the black, according to a story today published by the Associated Press. With 22,000 riders a day during the last three months of the year, the monorail generated about $77,000 per day – however, the system needs 34,000 riders and $123,000 a day to break even.
Both the federal government and the airlines are making efforts to keep Thanksgiving airline passengers on time.
There are some things you can do to make your air travel go a little smoother.
In Sept., Las Vegas ranked 25th out of 32 cities when it came to on time departures. That is down slightly from a year ago.
You can also check out flights to see what their on time history is like.
