Games - McCarran International Airport

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McCarran International Airport is the principal commercial airport serving Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County, Nevada. It is located outside the City of Las Vegas in the unincorporated Paradise CDP. McCarran is owned by Clark County and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation. Its location, about eight miles south of downtown Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip, provides convenient access to most hotels in the Las Vegas Valley. It currently serves as a hub for America West Airlines, now operating as US Airways.

In 2005 McCarran was one of the world's busiest airports, ranking ninth for passenger traffic, with 44,280,190 passengers passing through the terminal, and fifth for aircraft movements, with 605,046 takeoffs and landings.

As of December 2004, Southwest Airlines operated more flights out of McCarran than at any other airport. Southwest also carries the most passengers in and out of McCarran. The US Airways night-flight hub operation, established beginning in 1986 by predecessor America West Airlines, makes the carrier McCarran's second busiest airline, with the vast majority of flights still operated by America West. Other airlines that run hubs at McCarran include Allegiant Air.

McCarran Airport is unique in that it has more than 1,300 slot machines throughout the airport terminals.

Maximum capacity for the airport is estimated at 53 million passengers and 625,000 aircraft movements. As McCarran is predicted to reach this capacity around 2017, Ivanpah Airport is planned as a relief airport.

History

American aviator George Crockett, a descendant of frontiersman Davy Crockett, established Alamo Airport in 1942 on the site currently occupied by McCarran International. In 1948, Clark County purchased the airfield from Crockett to establish the Clark County Public Airport, and all commercial operations moved to the site of this airport. On December 20, 1948 the airport was renamed McCarran Field for U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, a longtime Nevada politician who authored the Civil Aeronautics Act and played a major role in developing aviation nationwide.

The location for the present terminals was moved from Las Vegas Boulevard South to Paradise Road in 1963. By this time, the airport was serving 1.5 million passengers a year.

In 1978, Sen. Howard Cannon, D-Nev., was able to push though Congress the Airline Deregulation Act. That meant airlines no longer had to get the federal government's permission to fly to destinations, but instead dealt with the airports to establish additional routes. Just after deregulation, the number of airlines serving McCarran doubled from seven to 14.

An expansion plan called McCarran 2000 was adopted in 1978 and funded by a $300 million bond in 1982. The three-phase plan included a new central terminal; a nine-level parking facility; runway additions and expansions; additional gates; upgraded passenger assistance facilities; and a new tunnel and revamped roadways into the airport. The first phase of McCarran 2000 opened in 1985 and was completed by 1987.

Between 1986 and 1997, Terminal 2 was built where two separate terminals had been in the 1970s and 1980s; one for American Airlines and the other for Pacific Southwest Airlines.

In the 1990s all gates and check in counters were upgraded to use a common set of computer equipment. CUTE, Common Use Terminal Equipment, eliminated the need for each airline to have their own equipment and allows the airport to reassign gates and counters without having to deal with individual airlines' computer systems. McCarran was the first airport to implement this type of system.

In 1998 the D Gates SE and SW wings opened adding 28 gates. The D Gates project is a modification to the original McCarran 2000 plan.

On October 16, 2003, the airport installed SpeedCheck^SM kiosks which allow customers to obtain a boarding pass without having to go to a specific airline kiosk or counter. McCarran was the first airport to provide this service for multiple airlines from a single kiosk. At the same time, 6 kiosks were activated at the Las Vegas Convention Center allowing convention attendees to get boarding passes on their way to the airport. This system is being enhanced to add printing of baggage tags in 2005.

On January 4, 2005, McCarran Airport became a free Wi-Fi zone. Wi-Fi is available in all public areas of the airport - travellers do not need to look for a hot spot. McCarran was the first airport to provide this as a free service for the entire facility.

In 2005, the D Gates NE wing opened adding 10 gates.

Future

As the airport continues through the process of upgrading and expanding there is a list of projects due to be completed before 2010.

Consolidated rent-a-car center (estimated opening, mid-2006)
Baggage claim - Terminal One - new baggage claim devices (estimated 2007)
Terminal Three - a new terminal for scheduled carriers; a 'unit' terminal including bag claim, ticketing and parking facilities (estimated mid-2010)
Roadway system improvements - concurrent with development of Terminal Three
Aircraft apron reconstruction and Terminal One rehabilitation (ongoing)
D Gates NW wing - addition of nine gates to satellite concourse (estimated 2008)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for McCarran International Airport ]

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