Passenger count at McCarran slips 0.1 percent

The passenger count at McCarran International Airport dipped 0.1 percent in June to 3.6 million passengers, as many of the largest carriers kept a tight leash on flight schedules.

For the first half of the year, the passenger count rose 1.9 percent compared with 2011, but airlines have trimmed service to combat high fuel prices. During June, the number of flights fell 2.4 percent from a year ago while the number of seats dropped 1.4 percent, as some airlines started flying larger planes.

Although McCarran officials do not calculate flight occupancy rates, the combination of seat counts falling faster than passenger counts means that planes are becoming increasingly crowded.

The McCarran count is closely watched because people who arrive by air stay longer and spend more.

Market leader Southwest was up 2.3 percent in June, when its results are combined with subsidiary AirTran. United, Delta and American were down.

Continuing the pattern of recent months, upstart airlines including Spirit, JetBlue and Virgin America, continued to build their market positions as the network giants pulled back.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air rose 2.8 percent, a much slower pace than the 17.4 percent gain for the first half. While discussing first quarter earnings in May, Allegiant management said an expansion at McCarran had overshot the mark and caused them to pull back. Three of four new destinations were dropped, although Honolulu was added in June.

International traffic rose 4.7 percent during the final month that most of the carriers operated out of the now-shuttered Terminal 2. Both AeroMexico and rival Volaris continued to expand, while United Kingdom carriers British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways posted single-digit declines.

The 10,254 drop in passengers taking helicopter flight-seeing tours or arriving by private jet in June was larger than the 3,974 decline for the entire airport. In second quarter reports, airline executives have frequently repeated the mantra of "capacity discipline." Wall Street analysts applaud this strategy because tight supply allows airlines to hike fares.

However, data collected by the trade group Airlines for America shows the number of seats scheduled for McCarran in the second half of this year will slip 1.2 percent compared to 2011.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.