Las Vegas Airport Boasts Best Post-Pandemic Capacity Recovery

Las Vegas is back!

One of the hardest-hit tourist spots when COVID-19 turned into a pandemic in early 2020 and shut down the entire city and the hotel-casino industry, Vegas is again one of the most traveled to global destinations.

According to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal,

Harry Reid International Airport, formerly McCarran International Airport, has had the best recovery of airline capacity of any airport in the world.

Citing data and statistics from the Official Airline Guide (OAG), the June seat capacity in Las Vegas is up seven percent compared to the same month in 2019 – the year that the travel industry uses as a comparison to gauge its comeback from the pandemic.

And it’s not going to wane either, says an airport official. Not with summer in full swing.

“Basically Las Vegas is a strong brand and people know what they get here, they know they can get value here. I think the airlines have recognized that and realized they’re going to point their aircraft where they can fill the seats,” Chris Jones, chief marketing officer for Reid International, told the Review-Journal.

The newspaper noted that the capacity difference from June of 2019 to June of 2022 at Harry Reid was the highest by percentage among the world’s 20 busiest airports.

And according to OAG estimates, July flight capacity into and out of Las Vegas will be more than 5.7 million seats and August capacity will be about 5.8 million. Las Vegas, which is expected to be one of the most popular summer destinations, is served by several airlines but, most notably, the four biggest in the U.S. – Delta, American, United and Southwest.