I've spent the last few days in Las Vegas, attending the Routes World 2022. The event brought together over 2,000 network planning and route development professionals from hundreds of airlines and airports globally to discuss new route opportunities. As I write this article, I'm at the airport awaiting my flight to London aboard a British Airways A350-1000.
A record-breaking October
Las Vegas has just over six million seats for sale this October, the best month ever, according to OAG information. In fact, this month is one of five this year to exceed pre-2022 figures. This makes sense: for passengers, July was Las Vegas' best month ever. And for the entire year, the airport expects to be near, or to exceed, its previous best year.
Of the USA's top ten airports, Las Vegas' seat capacity has grown more than any other (+13%, +679,000). This has propelled Sin City to the country's seventh-largest airport, up one place over October 2019. And at a global level, it is the 17th largest, a big jump from 31st, obviously helped by others, especially in hard-hit Asia, remaining far below par.
Predictably, Las Vegas’ expansion was driven by Frontier (seats +70%, +287,000), Spirit (+54%, +326,000), and Southwest (+200,000, +11%). Frontier's growth pushed it to Las Vegas' third spot, up from sixth, overtaking American, Delta, and United. Frontier has 19 more routes than it did.
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Southwest has 35% of seats
It should not be surprising that Southwest is overwhelmingly dominant in Las Vegas – it always is. This month, it has 2,087,000 seats for sale, or nearly one in every three, although the gap between it and number two, Spirit, has narrowed. Las Vegas' top ten airlines are summarized below by October 2022 capacity:
Airline |
Seats: October 2022 |
Seats: October 2019 |
Routes: October 2022 |
Routes: October 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Southwest |
2,087,000 |
1,887,000 |
66 |
53 |
Spirit |
927,000 |
601,000 |
40 |
29 |
Frontier |
695,000 |
408,000 |
54 |
35 |
Delta |
444,000 |
512,000 |
10 |
13 |
American |
441,000 |
424,000 |
10 |
9 |
United |
388,000 |
429,000 |
7 |
7 |
Allegiant |
254,000 |
226,000 |
60 |
52 |
Alaska |
186,000 |
202,000 |
7 |
5 |
JetBlue |
113,000 |
114,000 |
4 |
4 |
Air Canada |
78,000 |
101,000 |
4 |
5 |
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17 domestic destinations added
Las Vegas has 133 domestic destinations this October, 16 more than in October 2019. With 11, Breeze is primarily responsible. Among others, it has added Akron Canton, Charleston, Fort Myers, Huntsville, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Richmond, Syracuse, and Westchester.
Naturally, some have been served by other carriers before, but they have returned with Breeze. But not Charleston and Westchester: they are brand-new from Las Vegas, and they fill two decent-sized network holes.
Breeze has also launched Hartford. Unusually for the airline, which typically avoids head-to-head competition, it faces Frontier, which started in August this year because JetBlue ended it four months prior. You can understand the appeal: it's a pretty large market, with about 120,000 roundtrip passengers in 2019.
Then there's Provo, Utah. Allegiant launched it in August, followed two months later by Breeze. The market has gone from zero Las Vegas flights to 8x weekly. Will either blink?
What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.