Airport boosts PPE machine ranks by five

Additional vending machines selling personal protective equipment were launched Friday at McCarran International Airport as passenger traffic ramps up with the reopening of resort properties along the Strip.

The five new machines include additions by the baggage claim areas and near different security checkpoints. The new arrivals bring the total of PPE machines at McCarran to eight.

A machine was also installed at the McCarran rental car center off Warm Springs Road and Gillespie Street.

The addition of machines comes on the heels of the success of the first three, which were installed last month, according to Marcos Modiano, co-founder of Prepango, the San Diego-area-based company behind them.

“It’s been received very well,” Modiano said. “We knew the basic concept made sense, but I didn’t know it was going to get as much attention.”

California airports that have ordered them include Sacramento, Long Beach and Ontario, and airports in New Jersey and New York are also among the customers.

In addition, some Las Vegas resort properties and transportation centers across the country inquired about them. Prepango also is in talks with operators of large meeting spaces in Las Vegas.

Since the machines operate 24 hours per day, they’re a convenient option for travelers amid the mass closures at McCarran, airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said last month.

“With airlines now requiring people to wear masks on board and that sort of thing, I think it makes more sense for them to bring in the units,” Modiano said. “For us, it was to help provide a sense of security. That itself we feel would help bring people back to travel at the airport.”