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By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
When the Las Vegas economy was flying high in 2005, folks were so worried McCarran International Airport would run out of room that Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid told airport officials working on a $2.4 billion expansion plan to "sleep less and get it done."
Today, with the Clark County Department of Aviation completing some of those expansion projects, local economic indicators are plunging back to Earth and a tourist shortage, not a surplus, is keeping people awake at night.
The jarring shift in the fortunes of Las Vegas has some, particularly airline officials, questioning the wisdom of continued expansions at McCarran.
The passenger count was down almost 10 percent in August - there hasn't been a larger one-month decrease in Las Vegas airline traffic since December 2001 during the economic fallout of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when the number fell 14.5 percent.
For the year, passenger traffic is down 4.8 percent from 2007, and there's nothing to suggest a recovery is on the horizon. Next year, projections from airlines suggest there will be about 12 to 15 percent fewer available seats into the Las Vegas market.
"There is clearly not a current need for increased capacity," said Linda Macey, properties manager for Southwest Airlines, which carries more passengers to Las Vegas than any other airline.
Elected officials, airport managers and some independent analysts, however, say McCarran's plans should continue so the airport is ready to accommodate larger crowds when the economy recovers.
"We do not feel that we should be delaying any of this whatsoever," said Rosemary Vassiliadis, deputy director of McCarran International Airport.
There are myriad projects on tap.
On Sept. 30, the airport opened nine new passenger gates in an expansion of the D concourse at a cost of about $179 million. It also opened 12 new security lanes for the C concourse.
Later this fall McCarran will open a pedestrian bridge that connects the C concourse to the B concourse at a cost of about $84 million.
The projects are a prologue to a terminal building that will open in 2012 at a cost of about $2.4 billion. The terminal will accommodate international traffic that's now going through Terminal 2, a cramped facility considered...