Two airlines with a significant presence at McCarran International Airport reported carrying more passengers in November than they did a year ago.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the busiest commercial carrier at the airport, reported a 1.7 percent increase in the number of passengers flown, while Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air had a 6.4 percent increase in passengers on scheduled service and an 8.8 percent increase systemwide that included charter flights.
Southwest, which included figures from its subsidiary, AirTran, and comparative figures from November 2010 when AirTran operated independently, had 9.2 million revenue passengers systemwide. McCarran is expected to report Southwest's local statistics later this month.
The increase for Southwest came despite having 0.3 percent fewer trips because the airline's load factor — the percentage paying customers compared to capacity — increased 1.4 points to 81.6 percent.
For the first 11 months of 2011, Southwest passenger counts are up 2.5 percent to 101.2 million and the airline's 11-month load factor was 81 percent, up 1.3 percentage points.
Allegiant, the seventh-busiest carrier at McCarran, had 443,427 passengers on scheduled service, a 6.4 percent increase over November 2010, and 482,081 passengers systemwide, an 8.8 percent increase.
The airline, which focuses on flights between small cities and resort areas, had loads of 89.7 percent, down 0.4 percentage points, for scheduled service and 86 percent, down 0.4 points, systemwide.
Allegiant forecast a 4 percent increase in departures in December, a 4-6 percent increase for the fourth quarter and 13-17 percent increase for the first quarter of 2012.