Southwest performance helps boost airport to record September

Harry Reid International Airport had its best September on record with 4.8 million passengers arriving and departing from the airport that serves Las Vegas, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Thursday.

The number surpassed September 2022’s record pace by 0.7 percent with the airport well on track to having its busiest year in history. After nine months, Reid has served 42.5 million passengers, 10.3 percent ahead of last year’s record pace, with November – expected to be one of the busiest months ever because of the inaugural Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix scheduled – still on the horizon.

In 2022, 52.7 million passengers passed through Las Vegas’ airport.

One of the biggest contributors to Reid’s success was the 11.4 percent increase in passengers flown by commercial airline market leader Southwest Airlines, which on Thursday reported record third-quarter revenue.

Dallas-based Southwest flew 1.8 million passengers to and from Las Vegas in September with an average 254 daily round trips.

In Thursday’s earnings call with investors, Southwest announced a series of new flights, none of which directly affect the Las Vegas market, and a new fleet growth and modernization plan with Boeing, developers of the twin-engine Boeing 737 jet Southwest uses exclusively.

During the call, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said bookings for the winter holiday season are well ahead of last year’s, indicating customers have gotten past Southwest’s December 2022 operational meltdown that resulted in canceled and delayed flights that stranded passengers for days between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Southwest also reported that third-quarter results included an estimated $96 million expense driven by an increase in the contract ratification bonus offered to flight attendants as part of the tentative agreement reached this week with the Transport Workers Union 556.The company began accruing for all of its open labor contracts on April 1, 2022, and the incremental $96 million expense extends the time frame covered by the ratification bonus to the date the flight attendant contract became amendable on Nov. 1, 2018, to compensate for missed wage increases over that time period.

Southwest flight attendants had informational picket lines at the airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center when negotiations stalled.

The labor dispute is one of two involving flight attendants that have been visible at the airport. United Airlines flight attendants conducted an informational picket line outside Terminal 3 Thursday morning.

United flight attendants also picketed at the airport in August, protesting low pay in addition to pressing the company to “fix their operational problems.”

United, Southwest and other domestic carriers moved the passenger-use needle at Reid in September, but it was international flights that had the highest percentage of growth.

The airport reported a 6.9 percent increase in international passengers to 276,550 for the month. That takes the nine-month total to 2.4 million, a 32.9 percent increase over 2022.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.