Spirit Airlines, the fastest growing commercial carrier at McCarran International Airport last year, is adding nonstop service to Houston Intercontinental Airport.
The Miramar, Fla.-based discount airline will offer one round trip a day to Houston beginning Oct. 4.
At first, the flight will leave Las Vegas at 10:30 a.m. and arrive in Houston at 3:30 p.m. The return flight will leave Houston at 4:25 p.m. and arrive at McCarran at 6 p.m. On Nov. 8, the airline will convert the flight to a red-eye schedule, leaving Las Vegas at 1 a.m. and arriving in Houston at 6:05 a.m. The arriving flights will leave Houston at 10:35 p.m. and arrive at McCarran at 12:10 a.m. the next morning.
It will be Spirit’s 23rd daily round trip to and from Las Vegas. Houston will be the airline’s 12th destination from Las Vegas.
Spirit will compete directly with United Airlines, which has 46 round trips a week to and from Houston. Southwest Airlines has 29 weekly flights to Houston’s Hobby International Airport from Las Vegas.
The new flights are part of a systemwide expansion by Spirit that includes new routes between several cities currently served by the airline. Spirit also is adding nonstop flights between Houston Intercontinental and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that will connect to Las Vegas.