New Airport Needed For Superjumbo Jet

The Airbus A380 already promises to haul more passengers than any other airliner currently flying -- which means it could also bring more gamblers to Las Vegas, a fact not lost on city leaders. They'll have to wait awhile, however, before the A380 brings the hopeful to the desert city (and then carries the dejected away).

According to the Las Vegas Business Press, city leaders are planning to bulk-up the future Ivanpah Airport to handle the superjumbo-jet. The $4 billion dollar airport -- to be located 30 miles southwest of the city, in one of the few surrounding areas not yet eaten up by residential construction -- will need reinforced runways, wider taxiways, and high-capacity gates to accommodate the 800-plus-passenger airliner.

One problem, however, is that Ivanpah isn't scheduled to open until 2017 -- just about the time the city's McCarren International reaches its 53-million-passenger annual capacity.

And as cool as it would be to watch an A380 lift off from the older airport from your room at the Luxor, the A380 can't operate from the current airport.

"Its wingspan is so wide that we would have to close down an adjoining runway for it to take off and land," said airport spokesperson Elaine Sanchez, adding the superjumbo's 1.2 million pound takeoff weight is also too heavy for existing runways at McCarren.

When it opens, Ivanpah is expected to handle over six million passengers in its first year -- many of them visitors from overseas. The older airport would then be reconfigured to handle short-haul flights -- think Southwest -- which already make up over 60 percent of McCarren's current traffic.

By accommodating the A380, said Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spokesperson Erika Yowell, the city will be able to present itself as a nonstop-destination from cities such as London, Rome, and Tokyo.

"The LVCVA and McCarran International Airport are always working diligently for our long-haul market," said Yowell. "[A380 flights] greatly enhance our ability to compel international visitors to come to Las Vegas by creating more hassle-free, non-stop accessibility."

Nonstop flights to Las Vegas from China -- where the Nevada Commission on Tourism opened a facility earlier this year -- would also not be out of the question.

"We created our China marketing program and office from the ground up, and it took a year to obtain full licensing so that we could legally promote tourism," said Bruce Bommarito, director of the Nevada Commission on Tourism. "Chinese visitors tend to spend more and stay longer than other international visitors, which is valuable for Nevada's tourism-based economy."

FMI: www.lvcva.com, www.travelnevada.com