Las Vegas continues to soar as a prime destination, with Harry Reid International Airport reporting its second-highest monthly passenger figures in history for October, coming in at a remarkable 5.3 million travelers. Despite this surge, the numbers fell just short of October 2023's all-time high, when the figure topped out at 5.5 million passengers, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal.
October's rush is tied to Las Vegas' flourishing event calendar that includes the Global Gaming Expo and the Specialty Equipment Market Association convention which alone brings over 100,000 attendees; this along with the city’s extra appeal in autumn weather and sporting events like the Raiders' home games, and entertainment spots such as the Eagles' performances at the Sphere has evidently contributed to the city's air traffic swell, with the Department of Aviation releasing these figures on a Tuesday that seemed just like any other, but wasn't because the numbers were quite impressive, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
While domestic passenger counts at Harry Reid International saw a decrease of 4.4 percent from the previous year's landmark, totaling 4.8 million, the international segment shone, clocking an 8.3 percent increase to 341,390 passengers as reported by the airport authority. In fact, for the first 10 months of 2024, overall passenger traffic has shown an uptick of 1.7 percent from last year, touching 48.8 million, with international travel experiencing a noteworthy 13.3 percent leap to 3.1 million travelers, as 8 News Now shared.
Amongst the airlines, Southwest continued to lead despite a 4.4 percent drop, hauling in 1.9 million passengers, while other major airlines showed a mixed bag of results: Spirit dipped by 5.3 percent, Delta descended 8.3 percent, and American slipped 1.5 percent; United, on the other hand, managed to climb 3.1 percent, thus breaking the pattern of decline while on the international front, Canadian airlines WestJet and Air Canada saw dips and rises respectively, with British Airways and the freshly introduced Aer Lingus to Dublin route showing positive engagement, as per 8 News Now. Local airline Allegiant, ranking at number eight in the pecking order, unfortunately, didn't fare as well with a 6.5 percent drop in passengers compared to the previous year.
