McCarran Airport Traffic Increase a Good Barometer for the Industry

As the airlines slowly, incrementally begin to creep back toward filling their cabins, one good barometer is the traffic to major hubs.

One such example is Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport, where leisure travel, especially, is alwys at a premium.

Well, McCarran – like every other airport in the country – is still struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic but received a piece of welcome news when 1.7 million travelers passed through its gates in the month of August, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

That’s down 61 percent from August 2019, but still an increase of about 100,000 passengers over July, according to data released last week by the Clark County (Nev.) Department of Aviation. Passenger volume has been gradually increasing since Las Vegas resorts reopened June 4 after being closed for 78 days. McCarran processed 1 million passengers in June and 1.6 million passengers in July.

So, slowly but surely, passenger volume is going up although the Review-Journal talked to McCarran spokesman Chris Jones, who said September’s numbers will be key since Las Vegas usually sees a dip in tourists after summer.

“We might start to see a bit of a decrease; it’s a natural thing that happens in the fall,” Jones said. “Especially in Las Vegas right now, without the meetings and conventions business, which is usually one of our biggest drivers in visitation during the fall months.”

Overall, McCarran traffic for the year is off 56 percent compared to the first eight months of 2019 – again, not ideal but certainly better than the 70-75 percent figure most experts are quoting in terms of how much capacity is down nationwide.

“We’re really just waiting to see what the government is going to do,” Jones said. “The travel restrictions in some of these other countries are affecting people’s ability to move. We have people waiting on the vaccine, people waiting on a lot of different things that may help them feel more comfortable to travel.”