Major airline to end 8 routes impacting Las Vegas
The second-largest carrier at Harry Reid International Airport is ending services to 11 cities — eight of them with flights to and from Las Vegas.
Spirit Airlines is ending service, starting Oct. 2, to Albuquerque, New Mexico; Boise, Idaho; Portland, Oregon, Salt Lake City; and Sacramento, Oakland, San Diego and San Jose, California, in its first move since filing for bankruptcy again this year, Harry Reid International Airport confirmed Thursday. All of these cities had Spirit flights to Las Vegas.
“It’s important to note that each affected market is also served by other airlines, so travelers will still have options to those destinations,” a Reid airport spokesperson said.
On Aug. 29, Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in a year. According to a statement from CEO Dave Davis on social media, the company voluntarily entered into Chapter 11 to “ensure the long term success of the airline.”
Spirit Airlines didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Even amid budget woes, Spirit Airlines was the No. 2 carrier at Reid airport although it plummeted 42.4 percent to 446,454 passengers in July.
Additionally, United Airlines announced Thursday it was expanding its winter schedule, adding flights to 15 cities including Las Vegas starting Jan. 6, according to a news release. This includes adding one more daily round-trip flight between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, o we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of Global Network Planning and Alliances, said in a statement.
In another move, Delta Air Lines will also be discontinuing routes from Las Vegas to San Jose and Sacramento starting at the end of January, Delta said in a statement to the Review-Journal. The airline said it is adapting its schedule to “align with consumer demand.”
In July, Delta was the No. 3 carrier to Reid airport, up 4.8 percent to 444,897 passengers.
Overall, passenger traffic at Reid has been on the decline for the past six months. Las Vegas’ airport reported 4.8 million passengers for the month, a 5.7 percent decline from a year ago. July 2024 volume was one of three months ever in which the number of passengers exceeded 5 million.
Domestically, travel was down 5.9 percent to 4.4 million in July, as compared to numbers from the previous year.
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.