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By CHRIS JONES
GAMING WIRE
Expressing renewed faith in Las Vegas' ability to attract more airline passengers, the top official at McCarran International Airport said Monday he hopes to resume construction on a $105 million expansion of the airport's D-gate concourse early next year.
Plans to build the new 10-gate northeast wing at the 4-year-old concourse were shelved after last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reduced air traffic to and from the city. Although passenger traffic at McCarran has not fully recovered, Clark County Director of Aviation Randy Walker said he and other airport officials are pleased with McCarran's recent traffic reports and believe the time is right to resurrect the proposed expansion.
"My staff has been putting a lot of pressure on me to make this decision over the past four months," Walker said. "We think once the security stuff gets worked out sometime in the future, the traffic will come back. ... Las Vegas has got the demand and we think we're going to need the (added) gates."
McCarran now operates 93 gates, Walker said.
The Clark County Board of Commissioners, which oversees McCarran, approved a master plan that included financing for the northeast wing in early 2000, airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said.
Before work can resume on the D-gate concourse, however, Walker said he must appear before the commission to reactivate a contract with Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects. He hopes to raise the issue as soon as the...