Long term parking is offered in the public garage, and reserved spaces are located on levels 1M, 2M, 3, 4, 5, & 6. The parking rate is $3 for the first hour and $1 for each additional hour. The maximum daily rate is $12. Airline passengers can pay fees upon exiting the garage. Credit cards are accepted at the toll booth.
Passengers can save money by parking their vehicles in the economy parking lot located near Terminal 1. Airport courtesy shuttles are on hand to transfer passengers back and forth. The parking rate for the economy parking lot is $3 for the first hour and $1 for each additional hour. The maximum daily rate is $6. The economy lot is able to accommodate oversized vehicles.
Parking for disabled passengers is available in all parking garages and lots. Handicapped passengers who park their vehicles in the economy lot will arrive at the terminal via airport shuttle. Airport shuttles are completely operational with wheelchair lifts. In addition, the airport offers courtesy wheelchair service to passengers with special needs.
A number of hotels are located near McCarran International Airport. Airline passengers can park their cars in hotel lots and receive shuttle service to and from the airport. Off-site airport parking is cheaper, and many hotels offer discount parking rates to hotel guests. Contact individual hotels in advance and ask about rates and shuttle schedule.
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Las Vegas McCarran International is a busy airport located a few feet from the famous Las Vegas strip. Passengers who arrive at night are greeted by a parade of lights and a fabulous view of Vegas. Approximately 40 airlines operate at McCarran, and the airport offers non-stop services to various U.S cities and international destinations. Airline carriers include Delta, Southwest, Northwest, Continental, and AirTran. Additionally, international airlines such as Korean Air, Mexicana, Philippine Air, and Air Canada serve McCarran International Airport.
There are two terminals at McCarran International Airport. Terminal 1 has four concourses: A, B, C, & D. Terminal 2 has one concourse and eight gates. Since the airport welcomes more than 40 million passengers each year, there are plenty of amenities and guest services to accommodate busy travelers. McCarran International Airport features an interfaith chapel, wireless Internet access throughout the terminals, mail service, designated smoking areas, and more. The airport is large, but easy to navigate. Plus, airport personnel are on hand to assist airline passengers with gate numbers, ground transportation, and general information.
McCarran International Airport (IATA: LAS, ICAO: KLAS, FAA LID: LAS) is the principal commercial airport serving Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada. The airport is located five miles (8 km) south of the central business district of Las Vegas, in the unincorporated town of Paradise. It covers an area of 2,800 acres (1,133 ha) and has four runways. McCarran is owned by Clark County and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation (DOA). It serves as a focus city for Allegiant Air, Southwest Airlines, and US Airways; McCarran is also the largest operation base for both Allegiant and Southwest.
In 2007, McCarran ranked 14th in the world for passenger traffic, with 47,595,140 passengers passing through the terminal. The airport ranked 6th in the world for aircraft movements (down from fifth in 2006), with 609,472 takeoffs and landings.[1] McCarran and the DOA are completely self-sufficient enterprises, requiring no money from the County's general fund.[2]
As of April 2008, Southwest Airlines operated more flights out of McCarran than at any other airport. Southwest also carries the most passengers in and out of McCarran. Southwest currently operates out of 21 gates, primarily in Concourse C, at McCarran. The US Airways night-flight hub operation, established in 1986 by predecessor America West Airlines, makes the carrier McCarran's second busiest airline.
The top five largest scheduled airlines at McCarran in number of passengers carried in 2007 are Southwest Airlines (34.63%), US Airways/ US Airways Express (21.98%), United Airlines/ United Express (7.16%), Delta Airlines/ Delta Connection (5.67%), and American Airlines/ American Eagle (4.84%).[1]
McCarran Airport is somewhat unusual in that it has more than 1,300 slot machines throughout the airport terminals. Reno/Tahoe International Airport also has gambling machines both airside and landside.
Maximum capacity for the airport is estimated at 53 million passengers and 625,000 aircraft movements. As McCarran is predicted to reach this capacity around 2017, Ivanpah Airport is planned as a relief airport.
American aviator George Crockett, a descendant of frontiersman Davy Crockett, established Alamo Airport in 1942 on the site currently occupied by McCarran International. In 1948, Clark County purchased the airfield from Crockett to establish the Clark County Public Airport, and all commercial operations moved to the site of this airport. On December 20, 1948 the airport was renamed McCarran Field for U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, a longtime Nevada politician who authored the Civil Aeronautics Act and played a major role in developing aviation nationwide.
By this time, the airport was serving 1.5 million passengers a year, the location for the present terminals was moved from Las Vegas Boulevard South to Paradise Road, opening in March of 1963.[3] The terminal, designed by Welton Becket and Associates and John Replogle, was inspired by the TWA terminal at JFK.[3]
In 1978, Senator Howard Cannon, was able to push the Airline Deregulation Act through Congress. Airlines no longer had to get the federal government's permission to fly to destinations, but instead dealt directly with the airports to establish additional routes. Just after deregulation, the number of airlines serving McCarran doubled from seven to 14.
An expansion plan called McCarran 2000 was adopted in 1978 and funded by a $300 million bond in 1982. The three-phase plan included a new central terminal; a nine-level parking facility; runway additions and expansions; additional gates; upgraded passenger assistance facilities; and a new tunnel and revamped roadways into the airport. The first phase of McCarran 2000 opened in 1985 and was completed by 1987.
Between 1986 and 1997, Terminal 2 was built where two separate terminals had been in the 1970s and 1980s; one for American Airlines and the other for Pacific Southwest Airlines.
In the 1990s all gates and check in counters were upgraded to use a common set of computer hardware. CUTE, Common Use Terminal Equipment, eliminated the need for each airline to have their own equipment and allows the airport to reassign gates and counters without having to address individual airlines' computer systems. While portions of Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport deployed CUTE prior to McCarran, as of 2008 it remained the nation's only major airport that is 100 percent common use. (White Plains, N.Y., is also a 100 percent common use airport, though it has only eight gates.) McCarran's CUTE system supports several airlines' use of the Cockpit Access Security System, or CASS.
In 1998 the D Gates SE and SW wings opened adding 28 gates. The D Gates project is a modification to the original McCarran 2000 plan.
On October 16, 2003, the airport installed SpeedCheck kiosks which allow customers to obtain a boarding pass without having to go to a specific airline kiosk or counter. McCarran was the first airport to provide this service for multiple airlines from a single kiosk. At the same time, 6 kiosks were activated at the Las Vegas Convention Center allowing convention attendees to get boarding passes on their way to the airport. This system was enhanced to add printing of baggage tags in 2005.
In 2003 the airport announced it was implementing a baggage-tracking system that will use Radio-frequency identification (RFID) bag tags from Matrics Inc. to improve air safety. The decision to implement the tracking system makes McCarran one of the first airports to use the RFID technology airportwide.
On January 4, 2005, the airport started offering wireless internet service for free. The signal is available in the boarding areas and most other public areas. The airport was the first to provide this as a free service for the entire facility[citation needed]. At the time, this was the largest (2 million square feet (180,000 m²)) free wireless Internet installation in the world.[4]
In 2005, the D Gates NE wing opened adding 10 gates.
On April 4, 2007, the Consolidated Rent-a-Car facility, located 3 miles (5 km) from the terminals, opened with 5,000 parking spaces on 68 acres of land. A fleet of 40 buses provides transportation from the terminals to the facility which houses 11 car rental companies.[5] Advantage, Savmore, Payless, and Enterprise will use a new access control system. This system will be based on barcodes.[6]
McCarran International Airport has two public passenger terminals. Other terminals service private aircraft, US government contractors, sightseeing flights and cargo.
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 handles most flights and contains 96 gates in four concourses. People movers connect concourses C and D with the Terminal 1 check-in and baggage claim areas.
Terminal 2 Also known as the Charter International Terminal, Terminal 2 contains eight gates (T2-1 through T2-8), four of which are for international flights. All international arrivals must go through Terminal 2 so passengers can clear customs. Terminal 2 also handles most charter flights.
Charter
Besides scheduled services, McCarran is a major hub for sightseeing flights. As such, many charter airlines, usually using Terminal 2, are regular users of McCarran.
The EG&G Airlift Terminal, operated by defense contractor EG&G Technical Services. EG&G flies a variety of aircraft (including Boeing 737s) from McCarran to various military facilities in southern Nevada and eastern California. The civilian contractors who use this service (callsign JANET) work at the Tonopah Test Range, the Nevada Test Site, and reportedly at Area 51.
As the airport continues through the process of upgrading and expanding there is a list of projects due to be completed before 2011:
Terminal 3 The new $1.6 billion Terminal 3 will be built in one phase. Its planned opening in early-2011 would provide 14 additional gates, including six designated for international travelers. Once it opens, McCarran will have 117 gates. Like terminal 2, it will be all inclusive providing bag claim, ticketing and parking facilities.
D-gates expansion The northwest wing expansion of the D-gates is expected to open in April of 2008. D-Gates is a satellite gate system which uses the main airport's baggage facilities.
Las Vegas Monorail Connection A plan to extend the Las Vegas Monorail to McCarran is under consideration. The proposed extension add stops at Terminal 1 and at Terminal 3.
Other projects Baggage claim — Terminal 1 — new baggage claim devices (estimated 2008) Aircraft apron reconstruction and Terminal 1 rehabilitation (ongoing) Additional 12 security lanes for C Gates (2008)
The Howard W. Cannon Aviation Museum is located on the Esplanade, Level 2, above the baggage claim area. This small museum is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and concentrates on Las Vegas airline history. Items on display include a copy of the first emergency vehicle that was used on the airfield. Admittance is free. A small branch of the museum is located at the D gates, and some of the other concourses and check-in areas also have small displays.
Airport public art
Some of the public art displays in McCarran Airport includes: Murals in McCarran International Airport D Gates (artists include Tom Holder, Mary Warner, Robert Beckmann, Harold Bradford) Greg LeFevre's Flights Paths — in the D Gates rotunda’s terrazzo floor. Tony Milici's steel and glass sculpture at McCarran's D Gates feature wall tiles of international skylines by sixteen Clark County fourth graders Wildlife sculptures of Clark County wildlife at the D Gates, by David Phelps.
