Posted on: October 21, 2024, 12:42h.
Last updated on: October 21, 2024, 01:23h.
Southwest Airlines, the largest airline in Las Vegas, has secured one of the coveted new terminal slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near the nation’s capital in Arlington, Va.
The Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reauthorization Act of 2024 signed by President Joe Biden in May created five additional long-distance flight slots at Reagan to increase the number of daily flights traveling more than 1,250 miles to 45.
The United States Department of Transportation, which owns the airport and its sister, larger international facility — Washington Dulles — fielded eight bids for the handful of new long-haul slots at Reagan.
Last week, the Transportation Department announced Southwest as one of the winners. The low-cost carrier plans to commence daily service to and from Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport before the year’s end.
Increasing Demand
With Southern Nevada’s population continuing to grow after the COVID-19 pandemic, with many California residents seeking a more tax-friendly, lower-cost-of-living environment, demand at Las Vegas’ primary commercial air hub continues to take off.
In 2023, a record 57.6 million people arrived and departed out of Harry Reid International, the airport that was known as McCarran until its 2021 rebranding to honor Nevada’s longtime US senator. Passenger traffic soared 38% over the past decade from about 41.8 million flyers in 2013.
In its bid to land one of the five Reagan terminal slots, Southwest officials emphasized that the airport was underserving demand for LAS with only American operating nonstop service to Vegas. The Southwest bid claimed demand for Las Vegas from DC increased 28% between 2019 and 2023, which greatly exceeded a -0.1% change for all other beyond-perimeter markets from Reagan.
Southwest’s talking points won over Transportation officials, who voted to allocate one of the slots for its Las Vegas business.
Southwest has a long history of connecting people across the nation with important moments in their lives through competitive airfares, friendly and flexible policies, and the unmatched hospitality of our people,” Southwest President and CEO Bob Jordan said. “We believe Southwest’s new DCA-LAS nonstop service will lower fares and increase access for the nation’s capital, Las Vegas, and western states.”
Reagan is a coveted airport for airlines, as the regional hub is most popular with residents in DC and nearby communities in Arlington and Northern Virginia. The convenience of Reagan allows airlines to charge higher fares due to high demand.
DC Casino Among Top-Performing Properties
Of course, residents in the Washington Metro area don’t have to hop aboard a plane for Las Vegas or drive to Atlantic City to gamble on a slot machine or table game. Along with retail and mobile sports betting in both DC and Virginia, casinos are widespread in neighboring Maryland.
The closest casino to the District is MGM National Harbor, just a mile across the Potomac in Oxon Hill, though driving times can be delayed greatly during rush hours. MGM’s $1.4 billion development is considered one of the nation’s top-performing casinos outside of Las Vegas.
In 2023, the MGM casino floor with over 2,200 slot machines and 120 table games generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $834 million.