The number of passengers flying to and from Las Vegas plunged in May from 2025, but a closer look at details released Thursday by the Clark County Department of Aviation shows the numbers aren’t as dire as they appear.
Passenger totals at Harry Reid International Airport in May fell 8.4 percent from last year to 4.6 million.
The big dropoff was the result of having a near-record 5 million passengers in May 2025, despite it being the first month of a slowdown by Canadian customers coming to the United States from several north-of-the-border cities as a result of President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs and his remarks about making Canada the 51st U.S. state.
Airport officials said Thursday that domestic passenger traffic was down 8.6 percent to 4.2 million, international arrivals and departures were down 5.7 percent to 286,306 and the number of passengers at the westside helicopter and general aviation flights is down 5.3 percent to 75,076.
The five-month passenger total is off 6.2 percent to 21.5 million with much of that attributable to the discontinuation of service by Florida-based discounter Spirit Airlines on May 2.
Six of the top seven commercial air carriers at Reid have higher five-month passenger totals than a year ago, including No. 6 Alaska Airlines being up 36.6 percent to 1.2 million passengers and No. 5 Frontier Airlines up 10.7 percent to 1.7 million. No. 4 United Airlines is up 7.3 percent to 2 million, while market leader Southwest Airlines climbed 0.7 percent to 8.8 million over May 2025.
The only declining domestic airline among the top seven was Delta Air Lines, off 0.4 percent to 2.2 million.
International arrivals and departures continue to slump with double-digit percentage declines for the three major Canadian air carriers serving the Las Vegas market, WestJet, Air Canada and Porter Airlines.
British Airways is off 5.1 percent, but its rival, Virgin Atlantic, rose 11.4 percent for the first five months of 2026.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
