Tourism has inundated Las Vegas to the point where Clark
County officials in Nevada are renewing talk about adding a second
airport to Sin City. A new facility would join Harry Reid International
Airport.
The existing airport can handle a load of about 64 million
passengers per year. More than 48 million people have been processed through
Harry Reid International in the first seven months of this year, and officials
speculate that the airport might reach its load capacity by 2030.
Officials say that passenger traffic has grown by nearly 16
percent this year.
"I mean, it was busy a couple of years ago,"
Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County's director of aviation, said. "Now,
with all these (new professional sports) teams and everything else, it's
getting busier and busier. I mean, that's obvious with the number of times that
we had to put out an alert about parking at the airport."
She can partly blame her husband.
Las Vegas tourism boomed when advertising executive Billy
Vassiliadis came up with the city’s tagline, “What happens here, stays here,’
20 years ago.
"We could not add an additional runway (at Reid
International)," Rosemary Vassiliadis said. "We have Las Vegas
Boulevard putting up to one side. We have the railroad putting up the other
side. I mean, we are an encroached airport. We all know that. So encroachment
could create some constraints. And that's what made us look at this (secondary)
airport site again."
A second airport would be about 30 miles south of the city
proper.
"It's going to be just a wonderful addition and needed
addition to the economic viability of Southern Nevada," Vassiliadis said.
Clark County Commission Chairman Jim Gibson said a new
airport could cost as much as $14 billion. It would be the most expensive
project in county history, even more than Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las
Vegas Raiders and the host of the 2024 Super Bowl.
"You know, this (second) airport's been talked about
for such a long time," Vassiliadis said. "I don't know if people
thought it was just a thought, an idea, a hope, you know, something that would
be fun. It's not. I mean, how could anybody even think of that when anybody
that flies in or out of Las Vegas sees how busy it is?"
Las Vegas is trying to increase tourism as it adds the ‘sports
capital of the world’ to its entertainment reputation.
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