The airport was renamed McCarran International Airport on September 5, 1968. The terminal, whose design was inspired by the TWA Flight Center in New York City, opened on March 15, 1963. The first jet flights were United 720s in September 1960.Ī Gates and rotunda area with slot machines in 2007Īirport officials began planning a new passenger terminal the original terminal was on Las Vegas Boulevard, and the new one was built on Paradise Road. The May 1959 OAG shows 47 weekday departures: 13 Western, 11 United, 11 TWA, 9 Bonanza and 3 Pacific. The Las Vegas casino industry grew during the 1950s, and the airport handled 959,603 passengers in 1959. The April 1949 OAG shows 12 departures a day: 5 Western, 5 TWA and 2 United. In its first year of operation McCarran Field served over 35,000 passengers. Meanwhile, the Army reopened its base at the original McCarran Field in 1949 and named it Nellis Air Force Base in 1950. Alamo Field became the new McCarran Field on December 19, 1948. The Army sought to open a base at the site of McCarran Field, so Clark County purchased Alamo Field to make it its airline airport. Ī third airfield, Alamo Field, was established in 1942 by aviator George Crockett south of Las Vegas, at the present location of Harry Reid International Airport. For the senator's contributions, the airport was named McCarran Field in 1941. He also helped establish a gunnery school by the United States Army Air Corps at the field. Nevada Senator Pat McCarran helped obtain federal funding for the city to buy the field and build a terminal. When the city tried to buy the field and build a more modern terminal, WAE refused, but with the advent of World War II WAE was pressured to sell. From 1968 prior to the renaming on December 14, 2021, the airport was called McCarran International Airport, and prior to 1968 it was named McCarran Field, after U.S Senator Pat McCarran who represented Nevada from 1933 until 1954. Senator Harry Reid, who represented Nevada in the Senate from 1987 to 2017. It is the busiest airport in the United States that does not operate as a hub for any of the five U.S legacy carriers. The airport was also a hub for Bonanza Air Lines, Hughes Airwest, America West Airlines, and continued as a hub when America West merged into US Airways, until 2008. The airport services as a base for Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Spirit Airlines. East of the passenger terminals is the Marnell Air Cargo Center, and on the west side of the airport are fixed-base operators and helicopter companies. The airport has four runways and two passenger terminals. It has expanded since then and has employed various innovative technologies, such as common-use facilities.
The airport was built in 1942 and opened to airline flights in 1948. LAS covers 2,800 acres (1,100 hectares) of land. The airport is owned by the Clark County Commission and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation. state of Nevada, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Downtown Las Vegas.
Harry Reid International Airport ( IATA: LAS, ICAO: KLAS, FAA LID: LAS) is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. If you are staying at the Orleans (a decent hotel!) and want to go to The Strip fairly often, it would probably save money to rent a car than pay the taxi fares over several days.Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) diagram They have some amazingly cheap prices for rental cars here if you do some online searching. I usually suggest renting a car to friends who come to visit Las Vegas and are not staying with me, unless they are staying at a location directly on The Strip and like to walk - a lot.
If you have 1000+ rooms, well - then you pretty much always have someone coming and going to the airport, so it is worth it - but otherwise, not so much.
The old days of every casino offering free shuttles is pretty much over - some still do, but for many of the smaller properties, it is not worth the cost. BTW, the intersection of Tropicana and The Strip is one of the worst in the nation for traffic accidents - so if you do rent a car, don't gawk at the pretty lights and keep your eyes on the road! A lot has to do with time of day and traffic. Granted, from the airport it could cost some money - but certainly not more than if you had to go to, for instance, Wynn or Rio or Mirage or other major properties. If you had a car, from the Orleans it is a straight shot east on Tropicana, about 10 minutes to The Strip. Yes, the Orleans is off-Strip property, but it is not exactly out-of-state either.