McCarran Airport Goes Forward with Expansion-New Terminal in 2012

McCarran Airport Goes Forward with Expansion-New Terminal in 2012

McCarran Airport awarded Perini construction company a $1.2 billion contract to build the new Terminal 3, part of a $1.8 billion airport expansion. In 2007 McCarran handled 47.6 million passengers. Terminal 1 which is designed for about 42 million passengers annually had nearly 44.3 million people in 2007. Airport officials say they are near or at capacity.

The Clark County Commission voted in July 2008 to move forward with expansion even though there were some protests that the expansion was ill advised. The Review Journal reported that Bob Montgomery, a manager with Southwest Airlines did not want to see the expansion because it would add to the cost of flying which has already gone up considerably with the price of oil. Even with a slowing economy and the delaying of few of the large hotel projects such as Echelon, The Plaza and City Center North, the County Commission believed that the prudent decision was to increase the capacity of the airport. Three new hotels are planning to open in Las Vegas in 2008 and 2009. Encore will open with 2,000 rooms in December 2008, in 2009 Fontainebleau will open with 4,000 rooms and CityCenter with 4,000 rooms will open. The current metric is that each room will need 300 visitors annually to stay at 90% occupancy and half of Las Vegas's visitors arrive by air. This means that the airport will need room for an additional 1.5 million passengers in by 2009. When the Echelon, the Plaza and the other hotels open in the next few years, another 2 million passengers will be using the airport. At that point, McCarran will be at capacity even with the new terminal.

The new Terminal 3 includes a new building with 14 passenger gates, ticketing servers, parking facilities, a baggage claim with an in-line explosives detection system and an underground automated transit system. The terminal will handle all international flights and some domestic flights. It is estimated to open in 2012.

John Laub is the President of the CEO-CFO Group.

1. "Airport to Expand- Terminal 3 Contract Awarded." Perini Company Press Release. Business Wire. July 16, 2008.

2. "McCarran International Airport: County Approves Third Terminal. Airline Officials Argue Expansion Too Risky in Current Climate." Benjamin Spillman. Las Vegas Review Journal. July 17, 2008.

3. "Current Projects. Vision 2020 Master Plan" McCarran International Airport.
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