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Las Vegas airport records busiest May ever

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport increased at more than three times the national average during the first five months of 2004.

More than 3.57 million arriving and departing passengers passed through the airport in May, up 17.7% for the same period in 2003, the Clark County Aviation Department reported Friday.

The monthly total was McCarran's busiest May ever and its second-busiest month in history, trailing only this year's March total of 3.63 million passengers.

For the first five months of 2004, the nation's seventh-busiest airport handled more than 16.8 million passengers, up 15.4% from a year ago. The airport is on track to surpass the airport's record 12-month total of nearly 36.9 million passengers set in 2000.

Renewed consumer confidence, an abundance of low-cost tickets and diverse southern Nevada attractions are driving the recent surge, said Billy Bai, professor of tourism at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Las Vegas has more than any other city can offer in terms of excitement and quality of life," Bai said. "Gaming, entertainment, restaurants, shopping and even outdoor recreational activities all go into the basket to create a really dynamic atmosphere for people who visit here."

McCarran's May growth and its pace through early 2004 were both more than three times the national average as reported by the Air Transport Association, a Washington-based trade group that tracks the activity of 14 large U.S. carriers.

In May, airlines measured by the association reported more than 40.7 million domestic passengers, up 4.9% from a year ago. During the year's first five months, those carriers boarded a combined 193.1 million air travelers, up 4.7% for the same period in 2003.

The association's figures do not include flights to foreign destinations, a category that has made up approximately 2% of McCarran's total traffic this year.

Of McCarran's five largest carriers, only American failed to report a double-digit percentage increase in its May traffic total.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines led carriers at McCarran, reporting 1.1 million May passengers, an increase of 10.4%. Through May, its 5.24 million passenger count was up 9.3% compared with the same period a year ago.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.