Airlines to Vegas: Slow Down

I love Las Vegas. To foreign friends who express skepticism about including a trip to Vegas on a visit to the American West, I say: "Forget L.A.-- the Universal Studios tour is just plain creepy. Go to San Francisco, then go see the desert, and then go to Las Vegas. It's utterly over the top and you won't regret it."

Nobody who's taken that advice has complained.

So I'm a little sad to see Las Vegas facing the bad news that airlines are cutting back service there. Like Orlando, Las Vegas depends mightily on leisure travel passengers, especially low-fare travelers.

Both destinations are scrambling to address the problems.

There are a lot of airplanes sitting around unused, and there is a very big incentive for Vegas casinos and other interests to gin up air travel into the city. So we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, the trends are not good. See this from the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

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