Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2000 | 10:31 a.m.
McCarran growth
McCarran International Airport said it served 2.965 million passengers in September, up 2.9 percent from September 1999.
Year-to-date business is up 9.1 percent at the airport, which said September marked the 24th consecutive month of passenger traffic increases.
The biggest airlines in Las Vegas, Southwest and America West, reported flat passenger count growth of .9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, in September.
National was up 136 percent, while United fell 13.2 percent and Delta was down 2.6 percent.
Long-awaited service between Las Vegas and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport began this week with an America West Airlines flight leaving McCarran International Airport Tuesday afternoon. Las Vegas-based National Airlines has its inaugural flight Thursday.
Both companies were among the benefactors of legislation approved earlier this year that enabled airlines to apply for exemptions to a restriction limiting flights to within a 1,250-mile radius of Reagan National. America West captured three of the exemptions, using two of them for nonstop service between Washington, D.C. and its corporate headquarters of Phoenix and the third to Las Vegas. National Airlines received one of the other exemptions.
America West's Flight 49 leaves McCarran daily at 12:50 p.m., arriving in Washington at 8:15 p.m. The returning Flight 48 leaves Reagan National at 9:07 a.m., arriving in Las Vegas at 11:08 a.m.
National Airlines begins its service Thursday with a departure at 11:45 p.m., arriving in Washington at 7:15 a.m. The return flight leaves Reagan National at 8:15 a.m., arriving at McCarran at 10:25 a.m. Beginning Dec. 1, National will change its daily departure time to 1 p.m., arriving in Washington at 8:30 p.m. It will keep the same morning return times.
Both airlines planned promotional activities to kick off the service, with a send-off party at McCarran for America West's flight and familiarization tours for travel professionals on National.
America West offers the flights on twin-engine Airbus A320 jets, which seat 150, including 12 first-class seats. It will be the company's 87th daily operation at McCarran, a hub airport for the airline, and the 39th nonstop destination for the No. 2 carrier at the airport.
National will use a twin-engine Boeing 757 jet, which holds 175 passengers, including 22 in first class. It's National's ninth destination, with flights to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport scheduled to begin early next year. All of National's scheduled flights depart from or arrive at McCarran. With an average 28 daily departures from the airport, National is now the No. 5 carrier by passenger volume in Las Vegas.
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