McCarran International Airport welcomes new air service from Paris

The flight is scheduled to arrive at McCarran at 6:04 p.m. and will be greeted with a ceremonial water arch to commemorate its first official flight to the Entertainment Capital of the World.

“Based on XL Airways’ current schedule, the airline could bring more than 10,000 visitors to Las Vegas this summer. And that is great news for Clark County and the community as a whole,” stated Clark County Director of Aviation Randall H. Walker. According to the 2009 Las Vegas Visitor Profile study, these visitors will generate more than $9.7 million in local gaming expenditures.

International traffic has been the bright spot this year at McCarran. International arrivals at McCarran’s Customs and Border Protection are up more than 15 percent year-to-date from last year, even with six days’ worth of arrivals from Europe being canceled due to the Iceland volcano eruption. Recent arrivals activity is currently running 50-60 percent ahead of last year’s pace, which is around 1,650 passengers a day, and does not include the vast majority of Canadian passengers, as they are typically pre-cleared in Canada.

"We are very pleased to welcome the first-ever non-stop flights to Las Vegas from France," said Cathy Tull, senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "France is a key source of overseas visitors to Las Vegas, and this partnership with XL Airways broadens our accessibility to a market that has shown 19 percent growth in the last two years."

XL Airways France will operate nonstop service to Las Vegas from Paris through September 23rd. Its service will operate on Thursdays and Sundays, using an Airbus A330 aircraft containing 364 seats.