July 30, 2026 - 2:28 pm

Harry Reid International Airport had the steepest monthly decline in passengers this year in June, the Clark County Department of Aviation reported Thursday.

The airport reported serving 4.3 million passengers that month, a 9.3 percent decline from the number reported in June 2025. The June figures follow an 8.4 percent decline in May to 4.6 million passengers, the previous highest downturn.

Most of the decline was attributed to Spirit Airlines May 2 shutdown. At the time, Spirit was the No. 2 commercial air carrier serving Las Vegas behind market leader Southwest.

But the current No. 2 carrier, Delta Air Lines, also saw a 10.2 percent decline for the month to 410,453 passengers. Southwest was flat at 1.9 million passengers for the month.

Unlike recent months, international arrivals and departures had a slight uptick with 273,850 passengers, but domestic arrivals and departures were down 10 percent to 3.9 million. The airport’s westside general aviation terminal and scenic helicopter flights were down 5.2 percent to 68,510 passengers.

Of the domestic carriers, Denver-based Frontier Airlines has added many of Spirit’s routes and showed a 24.5 percent increase in passengers to 409,397. American Airlines was flat at 361,453, while United Airlines climbed 2.9 percent to 349,645 among the top five.

Flights to and from Canadian destinations continue to provide the most lag in international passengers with discounter WestJet down 24 percent from a year ago to 35,625 passengers while flag carrier Air Canada has staged a rebound with a 12.1 percent increase to 40,448.

Mexican discounter Volaris is up 9.8 percent to 29,805 for the No. 3 position, trailed by British Airways, up 1.3 percent to 26,486.

For the first half of 2026, arriving and departing passengers are down 6.7 percent to 25.8 million passengers, with domestic traffic off 6.4 percent to 23.8 million and international down 10.8 percent to 1.6 million.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.