Las Vegas Might Need a Second Airport

Officials in Las Vegas and Clark County, Nev., have known for years that the city’s airport – now known as Reid International Airport after a name change earlier this month – is just about busting at the seams.

A combination of Vegas being one of the country’s leading tourist meccas as well as the growth of the city itself has made Reid International the seventh-busiest airport in the nation. For comparison’s sake, Las Vegas is only the 27th-biggest city in the country, but airport traffic grew almost 30 percent between 2010 and 2019.

But the encroachment of progress has meant more hotels and casinos and restaurants and shopping built near an airport that was once pretty much on the city’s fringes.

And now, in a story by John Langeler for KLAS 8 News Now, Clark County Airport Strategic Planning Manager Roben Armstrong says this is the time to start the process of adding a second airport.

“We are growing,” Armstrong told the TV station. “We are landlocked, so there’s only so much room for expansion. We’re basically capped at this point.”

Indeed, Las Vegas has grown so much that Reid International has no room to grow in any direction. But Clark County has an ace in the hole.

The county owns 6,000 acres in the Ivanpah Valley near the city of Primm, Nev., which is right on the border with California on Interstate-15, the main highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Primm is about a 40-minute drive from Vegas.

Armstrong presented preliminary plans to the Clark County Commission last month.

“As long as the projected growth continues as it has been and demand continues, then the need will be there,” she said. “We will serve the same clients at that airport that we do here now.”