Las Vegas celebrated the milestone of surpassing 50 million passengers in a year at McCarran International Airport as only as it can, with showgirls and Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas playing in the background.
“This is Vegas,” Clark County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick said. “We celebrate everything big.”
McCarran International fell more than 200,000 passengers shy of 50 million total passengers arriving and departing last year but will blow by that number this year. The city is currently preparing for a New Year’s Eve celebration that, it’s estimated, will bring more than 330,000 more visitors and a direct economic impact of $240 million.
The 71-year-old McCarran, which is owned by Clark County, broke its monthly record in October and is on pace for passenger traffic to be up close to 4% for the year as a whole, with tourism and convention visitors both up about 0.5% for 2019.
2019 is the third consecutive year the airport will set an all-time passenger record. The previous mark, set last year, was 49.7 million.
“It’s an amazing milestone,” Kirkpatrick said. “For nine consecutive years we have continued to grow, and that means we’re doing everything right.”
50 millionth passenger Hilda Black
She said Las Vegas is positioned to add to that passenger total in 2020 with the opening of the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium for the relocated Las Vegas Raiders. The NFL Draft will also be held in Las Vegas in April, and the MSG Sphere and the $4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas will open in 2021.
“I hope in the next four years we can get to 55 million passengers, with all that’s happening,” Kirkpatrick said.
Allegiant Airlines Flight 91, inbound from San Antonio, carried Hilda Black, the honorary passenger selected as the 50 millionth person to pass through McCarran this year. The 150-passenger flight was greeted by a water cannon salute, the Vegas Golden Knights band, and community supporters cheering them on.
Allegiant Flight 91 arrives
Black, 45, a physical therapist assistant, came to Las Vegas with her husband Robert to celebrate her twin sons’ Logan and George turning 21 on Thanksgiving Day. They received a gift bag of shirts, caps and sweaters from the Raiders and Golden Knights and a bottle of champagne. The Blacks’ stay at New York New York was also comped.
“She’s the luckiest person I know,” her husband Robert said about her frequent victories at three card poker, blackjack, and other games she plays. The couple comes to Las Vegas two or three times a year.
The Blacks learned midway through the flight that one of the people on the plane would be in the running for the 50th million passenger.
“It was awesome to think someone on the plane was going to be the 50 millionth passenger but never in my life did I think it would be me,” Hilda Black said, enjoying the spotlight and fanfare.
Rosemary Vassiliadis, the airport’s director of aviation, said airport officials knew ahead of time what day the 50th million passenger was coming, based on load factors. After analyzing flight data, they knew Flight 91 would be the one to set the mark.
“We worked with the crew. They’re the ones who selected her based on their interactions with the passengers,” Vassiliadis said.
McCarran could reach 51 million passengers by the end of the year, Vassiliadis said. That shows the strength of what Las Vegas offers as a tourist and convention destination. The city has had an estimated 42 million visitors in the last four years, and more than 6.5 million convention visitors in the last two years.
“It also shows that our local population has grown (to more than 2 million people), and that’s contributed to travelers coming in and out,” Vassiliadis said. “It’s a vibrant community in every way.”
The airport’s build-out capacity is a rolling figure because of changing airline behavior, Vassiliadis said. Since the recession, airlines have added more seats in planes, which has helped with McCarran’s capacity.
“We feel we can sustain at least 63 million, but we compare it to hotel rooms as the biggest piece of our formula,” Vassiliadis said. “We think we have enough capacity for another 25,000 to 30,000 hotel rooms.”
That’s why the airport has resumed environmental studies for the planned Ivanpah Valley secondary airport, about 30 miles south of Las Vegas at the California border. Work was halted in 2010, after the recession, because of a slowdown in tourism and air traffic. At one point, the airport was expected to open by 2017 with a focus on international flights.
“It all depends on how fast we build the hotel rooms,” Vassiliadis said when asked when Ivanpah might be built. “We have some more hotel rooms coming online, but not to that capacity yet. (But) it’s something we are watching closely.”
The $2.4 billion Terminal 3 at McCarran opened in 2012.
McCarran was listed as the eighth busiest airport in the nation in 2018 behind No. 7 San Francisco at 57.7 million passengers. Atlanta is No. 1 followed by Los Angeles International Airport and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
McCarran has an estimated economic impact of $35 billion on the city.
