Second airport may be needed to accommodate continued tourism growth
Since its inception more than two decades ago, Las Vegasbased Allegiant Air has grown to service hundreds of nonstop routes across the country, including several that fly in and out Nevada.
Allegiant adds stops according to demand from customers, said Kristen Schilling-gonzales, Allegiant’s vice president of planning. And, she said, that demand often includes one destination: Las Vegas.
Allegiant, which recently added a route to Las Vegas from Lexington, Ky., isn’t the only carrier at Harry Reid International Airport experiencing growth.
A total of 36 domestic markets were added by 10 different airlines to the airport in 2022, and 17 of those were from underserved markets, said Lori Nelson-kraft, senior vice president of communications at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Internationally, eight new markets were announced by six different airlines.
“More than anything, we always have to be able to demonstrate and make a business case for Las Vegas’ ability to attract and help these airlines fill the seats,” Nelson-kraft said. “And so, through our robust research of our visitor trends, we’re able to share that intelligence with the airlines so they can understand the demand and the popularity so that when they’re considering where to expand, we’ve made a good business case for Las Vegas.”
A sampling of the growth: Last month, airport officials announced new service from Canada-based Lynx Air, and Chicago-based United Airlines is reported to be opening a crew base in Las Vegas this spring.
Additionally, the airport in February received $31 million in bipartisan infrastructure law funding to primarily go toward baggage claim upgrades and meet future growth demands, after the airport saw 52.6 passengers in 2022.
“Las Vegas has been a high-demand destination, especially as we entered recovery from the impacts of COVID and what that did to travel (and) to air travel,” airport spokesperson Joe Rajchel said, adding that the airport is preparing for future growth amid an influx of special events, new entertainment venues and sports teams.
Las Vegas has nearly recovered from pandemic visitation lows, at a quicker rate than other major tourism destinations, Nelson-kraft said. The city led the U.S. in overall hotel occupancy at 79% in 2022, Nelson-kraft said, compared with the national average of 63%. She cited four types of travelers to Las Vegas, including leisure, business, sports and international.
Meeting demands of high visitation is what Las Vegas “does best,” she continued. In Las Vegas, the tourism authority has a unique partnership with the airport for air-service development, in which they work closely together to iden
“We knew that we were going to get to a place where a second commercial airport was going to be necessary, and the valley has just grown and grown and grown.” Joe Rajchel, spokesperson for Harry Reid International Airport
tify emerging and underserved markets, and prove to airlines that Las Vegas is a sensible destination.
“We are all about accommodating high visitation, and that’s why it’s so important to have partnerships with the airport,” Nelson-kraft said. “To say, ‘How do we grow air service?’ ”
With the airport seeing record passenger numbers in 2022, talks of a second commercial airport in the Las Vegas Valley have seemed to gain more traction. The proposal is nothing new, however — in fact, Rajchel said, it’s been in the works since projections in the late 1990s and early 2000s showed a need for a second airport on the horizon.
“We knew that we were going to get to a place where a second commercial airport was going to be necessary, and the valley has just grown and grown and grown,” Rajchel said.
The initial project was put on pause during the Great Recession around 2008, he said, though planning continued until it was given the go-ahead by Clark County commissioners in 2018.
A 2021 presentation to the commissioners by the Clark County Department of Aviation showed plans for the so-called Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport (SNSA), putting it on a parcel of land south of Las Vegas along Interstate 15, between the towns of Jean and Primm. The presentation outlined key factors of the airport, such as a state-ofthe-art passenger experience.
If completed, Rajchel emphasized, the SNSA will be a second commercial airport — not a reliever to Harry Reid International. He compared the potential relationship to that of O’hare International Airport and Midway International Airport in Chicago.
“What is envisioned is it will be a second commercial airport,” he said. “… Another airport that can handle those commercial operations as we continue to grow.”
Schilling-gonzales said Las Vegas is a destination for several Allegiant passengers, and the airline has also seen growth in the number of people moving to Las Vegas and traveling from the airport to various locations. Allegiant values its relationship with the Las Vegas airport, she said.
“Harry Reid Airport is just so convenient to all the places that people want to go to in the city,” Schilling-gonzales said. “So, we’re a big proponent of expansion at Harry Reid and staying as close as possible to the action in terms of new routes.”