Nonstop Las Vegas-to-Paris flights return in spring

France's XL Airways says it will bring back its warm- weather, nonstop Las Vegas to Paris flights in the spring but at a reduced frequency.

In doing so, it runs up against one of the hurdles to boosting international air service at McCarran International Airport and, ultimately, the chances of attracting more foreign visitors. Airlines have a difficult time selling seats to locals, particularly to international destinations.

When XL returns at the end of May, it will be with one flight a week instead of the two it has operated for the past two years. Concurrently, it will inaugurate twice-a-week service from Paris to San Francisco.

"We have been getting a lot of requests for tour operators and travel agents for San Francisco," said Jim Foster, the chief operating officer of Air Promotion Group, which handles XL's sales in the United States. "It is hard to ignore that."

This will allow what are termed "open-jaw" bookings, where tourists can arrive in one city but leave from another on the same airline. The airline could also offer Los Angeles flights, covering the third point of what European tourism promoters like to call the Golden Triangle for travel to the American West.

Foster said revenues rose 57 percent in recent years, but in a lopsided way.

"Certainly, we were not able to move the needle as much in Las Vegas as in New York," said Foster, referring to XL's only other U.S. destination.

McCarran statistics show XL's passenger counts rose 2.7 percent for the season that ran from May into September.

At 18,205 passengers, XL is a bit player in the local mix; Virgin Atlantic nonstops to London and Manchester in England have carried nearly 314,000 people this year. However, XL provides the only nonstop service to one of the most popular destinations for Americans.

The Airbus A330 flights take 10 hours and 30 minutes. Depending on the day and length of stay, the round-trip fares range from $781 to $1,469, according to the XL website.

At the launch of the Manchester flights earlier this year, Virgin Senior Vice President Chris Rossi said that only about 10 percent of the seats on the daily nonstops to London were sold to locals. Similarly, Canada's WestJet clientele is heavily skewed to people north of the border.

However, both make up for the imbalance with extra income from sale of packages. WestJet has frequently said it sells more Las Vegas hotels rooms than any other Canadian outlet.

Mexico's Volaris and AeroMexico have said this year that their sales come close to the balance that airlines like to see.

Clark County Aviation Director Randall Walker said that light local traffic for overseas flights reflects the airport as a whole. Locals account for less than 15 percent of McCarran's traffic.

With international flights, he has taken to using public forums to urge people, particularly businesses, to book Las Vegas flights -- connecting to Europe through either Virgin or British Airways, for example, rather than going though hubs such as Chicago or New York.

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