Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co., parent company of Allegiant Air, has defied the gravity of the slumping economy by being among the few U.S. airlines to post first-quarter profits.
Second-largest airline at McCarran reports $103 million loss in 1Q 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways, the second-busiest air carrier at McCarran International Airport, reported shallower losses in first-quarter earnings posted today.
Airline reports $28.2 million earnings for first quarter of 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co., parent of Allegiant Air, the discount airline specializing in transporting small-town tourists to leisure destinations, reported unexpectedly high earnings today in a major departure from industry norms. Allegiant is the seventh-leading passenger generator at McCarran International Airport.
With centuries of institutional experience in the crowd, members of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority did what just about everybody expected them to do when it came to deciding whether to extend the contract of longtime advertising and marketing consultant R&R Partners.
The 8 percent decline in visitation to Las Vegas compared with last year was shallower in February than January, but tourism experts aren’t ready to call it a trend since Strip gaming revenue for the month was worse than the statewide average.
Airline reports $91 million loss for fourth quarter of 2008
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the busiest commercial air carrier serving McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, reported its second straight quarterly loss today, surprising analysts who expected a smaller loss than reported.
In professional baseball, opening day is a time for fresh starts and new opportunities. No matter what happened last year or during the offseason, every team has a shot to win. And 2009 is a fresh start for the Las Vegas 51s, the city’s minor-league baseball franchise.
After a good run of appointments of gaming regulators by Gov. Jim Gibbons, the latest selections to fill vacancies on the Nevada Gaming Commission have raised some questions.
For close to an hour this morning, people with canes, walkers and wheelchairs pleaded with members of the Nevada Taxicab Authority to allow a new company a chance to provide them with taxi service.
McCarran International Airport has now gone a full year with monthly declines in passenger traffic after the Clark County Aviation Department reported a 15.2 percent decrease in travelers in February over the previous year.
US Airways service cuts leave Las Vegas holding the bag
Friday, April 3, 2009
TEMPE, Ariz. — US Airways, the second-busiest airline operating at McCarran International Airport, is on a mission to achieve consistent profitability and has a game plan to reach that goal. But unfortunately for Las Vegas, its path to profitability includes contraction — not expansion — in Southern Nevada.
Allegiant Air is taking its successful formula of linking small towns with resort destinations to the West Coast, announcing new service to Los Angeles International Airport.
The Nevada Tourism Commission has offered a budget compromise that proposes a temporary revenue cap on funds generated for the board by the hotel room tax.
The state Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission meet every other month in Las Vegas and Carson City to conduct the business of overseeing the state’s dominant industry. At the Feb. 19 commission meeting in Carson City, something unusual happened: There wasn’t much to talk about.
Now that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has officially put the brakes on its $890 million Convention Center enhancement plan, it will face a new analysis: How much more the project might cost as a result of the delay.
President and general manager, Nevada Public Radio
Friday, March 13, 2009
Florence Rogers had a tough act to follow when she took over as president and general manager of Nevada Public Radio. Rogers, who was born on a small island off England’s south coast and became a U.S. citizen last year, took the reins of NPR from founder Lamar Marchese, who grew the operation from scratch in 30 years.
Longtime gaming executive Phil Ruffin is a little closer to owning a property on the Strip. The three-member state Gaming Control Board has recommended approval of the $775 million sale of the Treasure Island to Ruffin.
Las Vegas’ history is full of stories about celebrity appearances that have attracted public attention and filled casinos with entertainers, sports figures and adoring fans that want a chance to see their heroes up close.
Australian casino giant Crown Ltd. has terminated its $1.8 billion purchase agreement for Cannery Casino Resorts to allow for more time to consummate a deal.
Average daily room rates plunge nearly 20 percent compared to January 2008
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Visitor volume took another header in January with fewer than 3 million tourists visiting Southern Nevada for the third straight month. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported today that 2.8 million people visited in January, an 11.9 percent decline from January 2008.
With the outlook a little brighter of keeping the Nevada Tourism Commission and the Nevada Economic Development Commission separate, the tourism board voted March 2 to submit three names for a prospective director to Gov. Jim Gibbons.
In roughly the last six months, four resorts have opened their doors in Southern Nevada. The most recent one — the M Resort at St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard South — has a lot more in common than you might think with the previous three, the Eastside Cannery on the Boulder strip, Aliante Station in North Las Vegas and Encore on the Strip. M, which opened March 1 to rave reviews, has most frequently been compared with another relative newcomer to the market, the Red Rock Resort in Summerlin.
Passenger volume declined at McCarran International Airport in January for the 11th consecutive month with traffic hitting the steepest monthly decline since the post-9/11 days.
Two Las Vegas gaming giants, one a global player, the other a key company in the locals market, suffered similar fourth-quarter fates when they reported earnings: operating losses and lower net revenue compared with the same period a year ago.
Recommendation goes to Gaming Commission for approval later this month
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The State Gaming Control Board has recommended approval of the $775 million sale of the Treasure Island on the Las Vegas Strip to longtime gaming executive Phil Ruffin. In a unanimous vote, the board recommended the property transfer and the licensing of Ruffin, the former operator of the Frontier, which was located about a quarter-mile north of the Treasure Island.
Bill Boyd, Rep. Titus among guests at M Resort before public opening
Monday, March 2, 2009
Anthony Marnell III was making the rounds through his new casino during Sunday’s VIP event showing a mix of satisfaction that things were going well and anticipation for the public opening just hours away.
Someday, the developers of the PGA Golf Club at Coyote Springs hope the course in the high desert northeast of Las Vegas will play host to the Ryder Cup.
Boyd Gaming’s surprising “indication of interest” to purchase most of Station Casinos’ assets for $950 million received a warm welcome by investors who consider it to be a possible shift in Boyd’s direction.
Anthony Marnell III is hoping longtime Las Vegans will fondly remember the early days of the Rio. Marnell will open M Resort on March 1 and he thinks the vibe will be reminiscent of what the Rio was when his father opened it and he worked as its vice president of corporate marketing.
The competitive landscape of the casino business in the southern Las Vegas Valley is about to change with the March 1 opening of M Resort. How much it will change will depend on how many customers loyal to the three locals casinos closest to M — Michael Gaughan’s South Point, Station Casinos’ Green Valley Ranch Resort and the privately held Silverton — become steady customers of M. The doors are scheduled to open at 10 p.m. March 1. The opening rejuvenates a longtime rivalry with second-generation casino operators.
400-room property will open next weekend off Interstate 15
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009
Longtime Las Vegas residents will remember the incredible buzz the Rio generated when it opened in 1990. Owned and operated by Marnell Corrao Associates, the Rio was Las Vegas’ first all-suite hotel and its Brazilian theme initially warmed locals before it expanded and branched out to serve other markets. Nearly two decades later, another Marnell – Anthony Marnell III, son of Rio developer Anthony Marnell II – is trying to generate the same buzz at the soon-to-open M Resort.
Mesquite, already considered one of the Southwest’s top golf destinations, hopes to capitalize on the popularity of recreational team sports and the city’s favorable climate by building a 920-acre sports complex it hopes will become the premier amateur recreation facility in the country.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has wrapped up its 2008 tourism statistics, a report most industry leaders may prefer to lock away in an underground vault so that it never again sees the light of day. Filled with negative numbers, the report paints a portrait of what the nation’s dismal economy has done to Southern Nevada’s leading industry: Visitor volume is down 4.4 percent to 37.5 million, occupancy rates are down 4.4 percentage points to 86 percent and the average daily room rate is off 9.8 percent to $119.19.
Cashman Center, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s “other” meetings and trade show venue, is officially on a roll. The 154-day U.S. Bowling Congress Open Championships began with its “Bowlfest” opening ceremonies last week, giving the city its first taste of what promises to be one of the largest — and longest — gatherings of visitors in Las Vegas history. Competition begins Feb. 21.
In September my wife and I took a wonderful day-trip via U.S. 93 to a couple of our state parks. We started with the two-hours-plus drive to Caliente’s outskirts where, at an opening in Rainbow Canyon, State Route 317 emerges. About three miles in from U.S. 93 is the entrance to Kershaw-Ryan State Park. The park is only about a half mile off Route 317 in a steep narrow canyon.
Decision comes days after airline announced job cuts in Las Vegas
Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009
US Airways, the second-busiest air carrier at McCarran International Airport, is cutting six daily flights to five destinations beginning in early May. The suburban Phoenix-based airline will discontinue daily flights to Baltimore; Portland, Ore.; Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta; and two daily flights to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The cuts are part of the airline’s strategy to reduce its overall seat capacity. US Airways will offer one-stop flights to the destinations through its Phoenix, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. hubs.
At 1,375 square miles, the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is a little bigger than Rhode Island. But the work that has been and is being done there is of major importance to several federal government agencies and a significant resource for Nevada. In July 2006 National Security Technologies LLC took over the management of the Test Site from Bechtel Corp., and Stephen Younger, who holds a doctoral degree in physics from the University of Maryland, took over as its president.
Nevada gaming regulators, now keeping a closer watch on Station Casinos, say its financial woes aren’t causing any serious regulatory concerns, even though Station landed on a national magazine’s list of companies that may not survive 2009.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is expected to consider whether it wants to extend its current advertising agreement with R&R Partners or open it up to competitors.
Employees at airport's second busiest carrier were notified Tuesday morning
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009
US Airways, the second busiest air carrier at McCarran International Airport, will cut dozens of jobs at the Las Vegas airport later this year. Parker said 233 airport support positions would be cut nationwide at 10 airports with Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Tucson, Ariz., being the hardest hit by the decision. US Airways officials wouldn’t say how many jobs would be cut at McCarran. As of today, the airline had 817 Las Vegas-based employees.
Gov. Jim Gibbons’ budget plan for the next biennium and how state government is going to manage in economic hard times have been the top headlines leading into this week’s opening of the Nevada Legislature in Carson City. Gibbons’ plan has quickly been responded to by the Democratic Party leadership and delivered by Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley.
Some Nevada Tourism commissioners, wary that their board could be merged with the Nevada Economic Development Commission, agreed Jan. 21 to meet this month with six prospective tourism directors to fill a 4-month-old vacancy.