A United Airlines passenger jet takes off from McCarran International Airport Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021.
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021 | 10:41 a.m.
As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, passenger numbers at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas have remained significantly below pre-pandemic levels.
McCarran recorded just over 1.5 million passengers — officials count travelers arriving and departing — through the airport in January, a 64% decrease from the same month in 2020, according to an airport report released today.
The January McCarran passenger figure was also down slightly from December, partly because the popular CES trade show was a virtual event this year. The show normally brings in over 150,000 people to Las Vegas each January.
Air travel is down nationwide as many would-be travelers stay home because of concern about the pandemic.
About 715,000 passengers passed through airport checkpoints around the country on Tuesday, a drop of about 1.2 million from Feb. 23, 2020, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
About 19 million people visited Las Vegas last year, a 55% drop from 2019, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
International travel to Las Vegas is down dramatically. A total of 21,500 passengers were recorded from international origins at McCarran in January, a 93% drop from January 2020.
