Las Vegas Airport

Las Vegas McCarran International Airport, more simply McCarran Airport (AITA code: LAS – ICAO code: KLAS), is a U.S. airport, the main airport serving Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada.

It is located near the Las Vegas Strip, 8 km south of Las Vegas, in the territory of the city of Paradise. It is the 24th largest airport in the world, with nearly 42 million passengers using it in 2013, and is also the ninth largest airport in North America1.

Administered by the Clark County Department of Aviation2, Las Vegas Airport is a secondary hub for Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Sun Country Airlines.

Established in 1942 as the Alamo Airport on the present site of the airport, it wasn’t until 1948 that Clark County purchased it. It was renamed the same year in honor of Nevada United States Senator Pat McCarran, a member of the Democratic Party3. 3 At that time, Western Airlines, Trans World Airlines and United Airlines served the airport. 4 The longest no-landing flight between December 4, 1958, and February 7, 1959, aboard a Cessna 172 took place from this airport.

5 From over one million passengers in 1960, it grew to over ten million in 1980, over nineteen million in 1990 and over thirty-six million in 20006. It is present in the film 2012, it is destroyed by an earthquake. It also appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Las Venturas Airport and in the video game Fallout: New Vegas as Camp McCarran.