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The expansion of the D-gates concourse at McCarran International Airport, shown here, was halted after last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Airport head Randy Walker hopes to resume work on the project during next year's first quarter. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Wednesday, September 04, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

McCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: D-gates work may resume next year

Aviation director believes time right to resume expansion

Expressing renewed faith in Las Vegas' ability to attract more airline passengers, the top official at McCarran International Airport said Monday he hopes to resume construction on a $105 million expansion of the airport's D-gate concourse early next year.

Plans to build the new 10-gate northeast wing at the 4-year-old concourse were shelved after last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reduced air traffic to and from the city. Although passenger traffic at McCarran has not fully recovered, Clark County Director of Aviation Randy Walker said he and other airport officials are pleased with McCarran's recent traffic reports and believe the time is right to resurrect the proposed expansion.

"My staff has been putting a lot of pressure on me to make this decision over the past four months," Walker said. "We think once the security stuff gets worked out sometime in the future, the traffic will come back. ... Las Vegas has got the demand and we think we're going to need the (added) gates."

McCarran now operates 93 gates, Walker said.

The Clark County Board of Commissioners, which oversees McCarran, approved a master plan that included financing for the northeast wing in early 2000, airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said.

Before work can resume on the D-gate concourse, however, Walker said he must appear before the commission to reactivate a contract with Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects. He hopes to raise the issue as soon as the commission's scheduled Sept. 17 or Oct. 6 meetings.

"It all depends on how quickly we can prepare the paperwork, but (the commission meeting) is the time we'll visit with the board to determine if they feel comfortable with this project," Walker said.

If approved, Walker said work on the new wing could begin as early as January or February. Construction will take approximately two years.

Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny said Monday the D-gates concourse expansion would be "a big positive" for Las Vegas and could lead to the resurrection of other stalled aviation-related projects, including McCarran's consolidated rental car center and the proposed Ivanpah airport.

"Our staff has worked hard to bring the airport back to its pre-Sept. 11 levels, and this basically shows we're back," Kenny said.

Rob Powers, spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, also said any renewed work at the airport is a good sign for the local tourism industry.

"McCarran has always done a good job of staying ahead of the growth curve, and an expansion would mean (Las Vegas) can continue to grow and thrive as a resort destination," Powers said.

Although still below 2001 levels, the percent change in McCarran's year-to-date passenger counts improved each month from January through June. By the end of July, the airport's 2002 total of 20.3 million passengers was off only 6.5 percent compared with the 21.8 million it handled during first seven months of last year.

Along with projected increases in traffic, recent changes in airport security have also driven the need for expansion at McCarran, Walker said.

The Transportation Security Administration, a federal agency that has been gradually taking control of security at U.S. airports since its creation in November, plans to require that all checked passenger baggage be screened for explosives by Dec. 31.

Walker, along with other airport directors and political leaders including Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is pushing TSA to extend that deadline, so far without success. Regardless of TSA's deadline, however, McCarran must eventually make room for additional security equipment, Walker said.

McCarran officials hope to build a $200 million addition to the airport's main terminal. Such a structure would house about 60 in-line explosive-detection systems machines, Grey said.

That proposed addition, which is still in planning stages, would be built behind McCarran's existing ticketing area to minimize any disruptions to passengers. The project would likely require the permanent removal of up to eight boarding gates from the airport's A and B concourses, Walker said.

"If we take those gates out, we need to be prepared to replace them (with new gates in the D-gate concourse)," Walker said.

The presence of 10 new gates would also allow McCarran to speed the renovation of its tarmac near the A- and B-gate concourses. Walker said the concrete in those areas is close to 30 years old and needs to be replaced over the next few years.

"We've been taking four to eight gates out of service to work on this (concrete replacement) project, which is about 35 percent complete," Walker said. "The more gates we can (temporarily) take out at one time, the faster we can get that work done."

Walker said he worries about how the financial problems plaguing carriers such as United Airlines, US Airways and National Airlines could affect traffic at McCarran. Still, he's confident the strength of the city as a tourist destination will allow it to overcome the aviation industry's current troubles.

"It's not a great time for the airline industry, but Las Vegas has traditionally been immune to those kinds of issues," Walker said. "As long as the demand for Las Vegas stays strong, we feel we'll be OK."

When the $345 million D-gate concourse opened in June 1998, it included 26 gates divided among its southeast and southwest wings. Plans called for the addition of two new wings as traffic at McCarran increased, Walker said.

The $105 million budget for the D-gates northeast expansion project does not include another $15 million used to build a nearly completed tunnel project that will eventually link the concourse with McCarran's proposed Terminal 3 project, Walker said.