When Australia-based Qantas Airlines announced in February that it would launch nonstop flights between Sydney and Las Vegas starting in December, aviation watchers took notice.
Southern Nevada tourism leaders viewed the move as a major win — the first nonstop Australia-to-Las Vegas route, the longest flight in the airport’s history at more than 15 hours, and a direct connection to roughly 250,000 Australians who visit Las Vegas annually.
Now, attention has shifted to where the next major international routes will come from.
With Sydney secured and Air France already operating Paris service, aviation leaders say the next targets are likely in Asia and the Middle East, with Tokyo emerging as the top priority.
Tokyo next target
Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said Tokyo remains the most in-demand international market without direct service. Las Vegas previously had nonstop Tokyo flights in the late 1990s on Northwest Airlines and Japan Airlines.
“Tokyo has long been a top priority for us,” Hill said in a telephone interview. “We thought we were going to be able to get a direct flight prior to the pandemic, and the pandemic came along and delayed that possibility.
“But it remains with the most demand for flights to Las Vegas internationally, overseas of any market that we don’t directly connect to. And so that’s a really high priority for us for sure.”
Tokyo is a popular destination because it’s the third most populated city in the world and recent LVCVA research indicates visitation from Japan was up 10.5 percent in 2025 over the previous year — the highest increase among source countries.
Hill said part of the problem for Las Vegas is that Boeing has had a harder time delivering planes to its customer airlines and the weakened supply chain has resulted in airlines holding off on new route decisions.
“And frankly, right now, jet fuel prices are exceptionally high,” Hill said. “We are losing some level of service because of the cost of jet fuel has gone up way more than the cost of gasoline.”
While Tokyo is the preferred next destination for Harry Reid International Airport for most, others see an opportunity in other parts of the world.
Gaming industry analyst Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of Las Vegas-based B Global, said a direct link to the Middle East would make sense once the war with Iran is settled.
Bussmann thinks a direct flight to Dubai would not only open up opportunities within the United Arab Emirates, but could also be a key link to generating traffic from populous India.
Mideast options
“The Middle East is obviously a market that will continue to grow over the course of time, and Dubai’s really where you want that connectivity because from there you can hit any major airport in Asia and Europe,” Bussmann said.
“I think there’s a lot more opportunity in Africa than a lot of people realize,” he added.
Bussmann noted that Etihad Airways recently expanded with flights from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to Charlotte, North Carolina, a global banking hub and a key American Airlines springboard to the rest of the United States.
If global tensions ease, Beijing represents another opportunity for Las Vegas. Hainan Airlines offered nonstop flights between Beijing and Las Vegas in 2016, but financial challenges put an end to those flights in 2020.
Singapore Airlines also offered nonstop flights between Hong Kong and Las Vegas with connecting service to Singapore.
Currently, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing can be accessed via Korean Air’s nonstop service between Las Vegas and Seoul, South Korea, one of the steadiest international airline relationships Reid International has.
Competition for routes
Airline companies continually evaluate where their aircraft can make the most money. Las Vegas has a team of experts that work constantly to recruit airlines to fly to Reid. Recruitment is a team effort paced by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Clark County’s Aviation Department that operates Reid and four other aviation hubs — Henderson Executive Airport, North Las Vegas Airport, Jean Sport Aviation Center and Overton-Perkins Field.
Las Vegas is a popular destination, served by around 30 airlines to about 200 destinations. But so far, 2026 has been an up-and-down year for Reid, thanks in part to domestic discounter Spirit Airlines going out of business May 1. While several airlines have picked up the slack, domestic passenger counts at Las Vegas are off 6.4 percent to 23.8 million passengers for the first six months of the year. The decline on the international side is even steeper — down 10.8 percent to just over 1.6 million passengers.
That’s all the more reason why experts hope to secure new flights and new routes.
Joel Van Over of Atlanta-based Ailevon Pacific Aviation Consulting is the point man for the LVCVA’s efforts to recruit new airline service, working with Cheryl Smith, the LVCVA’s director of airline service development.
Over the years, Van Over has attended a series of conferences called Routes World, staged in cities across the globe. The next one is in Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 21-23.
‘Speed dating’
Routes is a “speed-dating” event at which airports, airlines and destination marketing organizations meet to negotiate establishing airline service and flights.
“It’s a great mechanism for exchanging business cards, for getting the correct contacts for people that you want to talk to,” Van Over said in a telephone interview. “As we go and prospect new airlines, we will show up and we will set up meetings with airlines that we don’t previously have relationships with, and that gets us an immediate contact and business card for that airline, and then we can further expand that follow-up with them.”
One of the great things about Las Vegas, Van Over said, is that most airline executives know about it. However, he said he finds himself having to correct misconceptions about the city that have been stereotyped over the years.
“They have the perception of the Las Vegas from the ’80s or the ’70s, right?” he said. “The shrimp cocktails and all-you-can-eat buffets and the slot machines and the neon lights. We need to educate them on what Las Vegas has become with a lot of events and sports and being the entertainment capital of the world.”
Van Over said the Qantas Sydney announcement “was on our top five bucket list,” and that acquiring the route occurred faster than he expected. He concurs that Tokyo and the Middle East are high on the list of desirable connections.
Getting the Sydney service had its challenges: Because Las Vegas is considered a high-altitude airport where hot weather can be an issue, airlines need a high-performance aircraft for flights. Qantas is using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the route, ideally suited for the conditions. The airline is requesting a “sunrise variant” for arrivals and departures, meaning the flight will likely be locked in to early-morning arrivals and departures.
For Hill, Van Over and other tourism officials, the Sydney route represents more than a new destination on the departures board. It serves as proof that Las Vegas can compete for some of the world’s most coveted long-haul flights. With Qantas set to begin service in December, the city’s airline recruiters are already looking ahead, hoping the success of one of their biggest victories will help open the door to Tokyo, the Middle East and other global markets.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
