McCarran traffic continues torrid pace, rises in June

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport continued its torrid pace in June, with numbers 5.8 percent ahead of June 2014’s total to 3.91 million people, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Friday.

Domestic air traffic increases outpaced international arrivals in June, a reversal in the trend that has marked most of McCarran’s growth in the past three years.

The percentage increase was the highest since February 2012 and marked the 19th straight month of higher passenger numbers at the Las Vegas airport.

Six domestic air carriers had double- and triple-digit percentage increases, including three airlines of McCarran’s top five. Deep discounter Spirit Airlines, which has 196 weekly flights to Las Vegas — 35 more than it had a year ago — showed a 26.4 percent increase in passengers to 238,524 in June. No. 2 Delta Air Lines was up 13.4 percent to 327,262, and No. 4 American Airlines was up 10.2 percent to 240,971.

Frontier had a 163 percent increase in passengers, Sun Country climbed 39.7 percent and JetBlue was up 29.6 percent. Market leader Southwest Airlines was up 5.7 percent for the month to 1.59 million passengers.

International traffic cooled to a 3.8 percent increase with Mexican carriers Interjet, Aeromexico and Volaris showing double-digit percentage increases.

Korean Air counts were up 13.1 percent for the month and European operators Thomas Cook and Edelweiss were up 67.2 percent and 32.6 percent, respectively.

Some of the major international carriers didn’t fare as well.

British Airways had a 0.5 percent increase to 25,999 passengers for the month and Virgin Atlantic was off 11.5 percent to 28,670.

McCarran’s largest international carrier, WestJet Airlines of Canada, had a 3.2 percent decline in passengers to 85,706 for the month.

Halfway through the calendar year, McCarran passenger counts were up 3.8 percent to 22 million passengers, putting the airport on pace to surpass last year’s 42.9 million total.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find @RickVelotta on Twitter.