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TEMPE, Ariz. -- After just 53 months in the air, Tempe-based America West Airlines Inc. has grown from a mere fledgling to the nation's 11th-largest air carrier, by one industry standard.
And service into and out of Las Vegas, a market America West now dominates, has significantly contributed to the company's phenomenal growth.
According to Clark County Aviation Department figures, America West is tops in passenger boardings through McCarran International Airport. The airline has nearly tripled its passenger boardings here, on a year-to-date basis, since last year.
America West began flying passengers to Las Vegas in October 1983, and accounted for 3/1000 of one percent of the scheduled airline passenger total that year.
So far this year, one-fifth of the scheduled airline passengers coming to or leaving Las Vegas have done so on an America West flight.
America West's growth in Las Vegas has meant:
* A 215 percent increase in the number of employees stationed in Las Vegas since December 1986. As of Nov. 1, the local workforce numbered 445 compared to 105 a year ago December.
* Nearly 100 America West flights arrive at nine Las Vegas gates each day. By next February, that will increase to 105 flights per day at 13 gates.
* Recent non-stop service additions to New York, Denver, San Diego and Lubbock, Texas. The airline now serves 45 destinations from Las Vegas.
But America West, which has been carrying about 1 million passengers a month, is still just a sparrow compared to the nation's largest airlines.
McCARRAN DOMINATION
The airline became the dominant carrier at McCarran late last year when it added Las Vegas as part of its unique "Superhub," hub and spoke network. The Superhub also includes the carrier's home base, Sky Harbor International Airport in Pheonix, where it also owns the store.
Although travel to Las Vegas is encouraged through its "free stopover" program, about 70 percent of the airline's McCarran passengers are destined for or leaving from Las Vegas.
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