Las Vegas Arrival
American aviator George Crockett, a descendant of frontiersman Davy Crockett, established Alamo Airport in 1942 on the site currently occupied by McCarran International. In 1948, Clark County purchased the airfield from Crockett to establish the Clark County Public Airport, and all commercial operations moved to the site of this airport. On December 20, 1948 the airport was renamed McCarran Field for U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, a longtime Nevada politician who authored the Civil Aeronautics Act and played a major role in developing aviation nationwide.
By this time, the airport was serving 1.5 million passengers a year, the location for the present terminals was moved from Las Vegas Boulevard South to Paradise Road, opening in March of 1963.[4] The terminal, designed by Welton Becket and Associates and John Replogle, was inspired by the TWA terminal at JFK.[4]
In 1978, Senator Howard Cannon, was able to push the Airline Deregulation Act though Congress. Airlines no longer had to get the federal government's permission to fly to destinations, but instead dealt directly with the airports to establish additional routes. Just after deregulation, the number of airlines serving McCarran doubled from seven to 14.
An expansion plan called McCarran 2000 was adopted in 1978 and funded by a $300 million bond in 1982. The three-phase plan included a new central terminal; a nine-level parking facility; runway additions and expansions; additional gates; upgraded passenger assistance facilities; and a new tunnel and revamped roadways into the airport. The first phase of McCarran 2000 opened in 1985 and was completed by 1987.
Between 1986 and 1997, Terminal 2 was built where two separate terminals had been in the 1970s and 1980s; one for American Airlines and the other for Pacific Southwest Airlines.
In the 1990s all gates and check in counters were upgraded to use a common set of computer hardware. CUTE, Common Use Terminal Equipment, eliminated the need for each airline to have their own equipment and allows the airport to reassign gates and counters without having to address individual airlines' computer systems. McCarran was the first airport in the United States to implement this type of system. However the system does not allow all features to work with most airlines systems, including one new feature the picture Cockpit Access Security System system which has required most airlines to not allow pilots and officers from other airlines to access the flight deck.
In 1998 the D Gates SE and SW wings opened adding 28 gates. The D Gates project is a modification to the original McCarran 2000 plan.
On October 16, 2003, the airport installed SpeedCheck kiosks which allow customers to obtain a boarding pass without having to go to a specific airline kiosk or counter. McCarran was the first airport to provide this service for multiple airlines from a single kiosk. At the same time, 6 kiosks were activated at the Las Vegas Convention Center allowing convention attendees to get boarding passes on their way to the airport. This system was enhanced to add printing of baggage tags in 2005.
In 2003 the airport announced it was implementing a baggage-tracking system that will use Radio-frequency identification (RFID) bag tags from Matrics Inc. to improve air safety. The decision to implement the tracking system makes McCarran one of the first airports to use the RFID technology airportwide.
On January 4, 2005, the airport started offering wireless internet service for free. The signal is available in the boarding areas and most other public areas. The airport was the first to provide this as a free service for the entire facility[citation needed]. At the time, this was the largest (2 million square feet (180,000 m²)) free wireless internet installation in the world.[5])
In 2005, the D Gates NE wing opened adding 10 gates.
On April 4, 2007, the Consolidated Rent-a-Car facility, located 3 miles (5 km) from the terminals, opened with 5,000 parking spaces on 68 acres of land. A fleet of 40 buses provides transportation from the terminals to the facility which houses 11 car rental companies.[6] Advantage, Savmore, Payless, and Enterprise will use a new access control system. This system will be based on barcodes.[7]
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traveler3695 2 years ago