Traffic at McCarran falls 6.5 percent in 2008

Traffic at the nation's top 35 airports fell 4.2 percent in 2008, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
 
At McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas traffic was down 6.5 percent.

"What you're seeing at McCarran certainly isn't unusual," FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The FAA report Thursday counted airport operations, which means takeoffs and landings.

Nationally, there were 14,660,466 operations at the top 35 airports, with Atlanta topping the list at 978,084. Las Vegas was sixth with 578,946.

The numbers include scheduled commercial air service as well as helicopter tours and private flight operations, Gregor said.

They don't show how many ticketed passengers arrived or departed, which is a more useful indicator of the status of the Las Vegas tourism industry.

Through November, the number of passengers arriving and departing McCarran was down 7.1 percent from the 2007 pace.