Las Vegas Airport Guide: Runways Beside the Strip
Las Vegas Airport explained: four runways next to the Strip, Terminals 1 and 3, Southwest's base, slot machines in the halls and the Sunset Road viewing area.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Las Vegas Airport sits a stone’s throw from the southern end of the Strip, so close that aircraft on final approach pass the hotel towers at window height. Officially Harry Reid International Airport since 2021, and McCarran for more than 70 years before that, it is the main gateway to Nevada and one of the busiest leisure airports in the world. Around 55 million passengers used it in 2025, down from a record 58.4 million the year before. Southwest is the dominant airline, and the slot machines in the concourses tell you exactly where you have landed.
Las Vegas Airport at a Glance
The IATA code is LAS and the ICAO code is KLAS. The field lies in Paradise, an unincorporated township, about 5 miles (8 km) south of downtown Las Vegas and directly east of the southern Strip. The elevation is 665 m (2,181 ft), which combined with summer temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius makes performance planning a daily concern. The Clark County Department of Aviation owns and operates it.
Two terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 3, and four runways serve the airport. Southwest, Allegiant, Frontier and JSX run operating bases at Las Vegas Airport, and more than 30 airlines fly here. Spirit was a major tenant until its collapse in 2026. Terminal maps, parking and the rental car shuttle details are on the airport’s official website.
How Las Vegas’s Airport Came to Be
The airport opened in January 1943 as Alamo Field, a general aviation strip built by flight instructor George Crockett, who named it in honour of his ancestor Davy Crockett and the Battle of the Alamo. Commercial airlines moved across from the Las Vegas Army Airfield, now Nellis Air Force Base, in 1948. In December that year the county renamed it McCarran Field after Senator Pat McCarran, who had steered aviation legislation through Congress.
The casino boom of the 1950s and 1960s turned a desert strip into a major airport. The current Terminal 1 opened in 1963 and has been expanded many times, with the C gates added in 1985 and the D satellite in 1998. Southwest arrived in the 1980s and became the dominant carrier in the 1990s. Terminal 3 opened in 2012 to handle international arrivals and overflow, and a new control tower followed in 2016.
In February 2021 the Clark County Commission voted to drop McCarran’s name, citing his record of antisemitism and racism, and the airport became Harry Reid International Airport in December 2021, after the former Senate majority leader from Nevada. The IATA code did not change.
Runways at Las Vegas Airport
Las Vegas Airport has four runways in two parallel pairs. Runway 08L/26R is the big one at 4,522 m (14,835 ft), the second longest civil runway in the United States after Denver’s. It is asphalt and 46 m wide. Its partner, Runway 08R/26L, is 3,208 m (10,526 ft). Both run east to west along the southern edge of the field.
The second pair runs north to south. Runway 01L/19R is 2,978 m (9,770 ft) of concrete and Runway 01R/19L is 2,978 m (9,769 ft) of asphalt. The 26s are the main pair, with arrivals from the east usually on 26L and departures usually on 26R. The 19s and 01s take a share of the traffic depending on the wind, and 19 arrivals come in from the north past the Strip. Instrument landing systems serve 01L, 26R and 26L.
The length of 08L/26R is no vanity project. At 665 m elevation in July heat, a fully loaded Boeing 777 or Airbus A350 needs every metre, and even narrow bodies take long runs. British Airways Flight 2276, a Boeing 777-200ER, suffered an engine failure and fire on takeoff here in 2015 and was evacuated on the runway. A Frontier Airbus A321 caught fire on landing in 2024 without injury.
Terminals and Airlines
Terminal 1 at Las Vegas Airport is the original building with Concourses A, B and C attached, and the D satellite reached by an automated tram. Southwest fills most of Concourse C and B with its Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 fleet, and Allegiant and Sun Country also use Terminal 1, while Frontier uses Terminal 3. The D concourse is the largest and houses American, Delta, United, Alaska and JetBlue, along with international gates added in 2017. Stand D21/22 can take the A380.
Terminal 3 handles the E gates and all international arrivals, with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, KLM, Air Canada, WestJet, Korean Air and Edelweiss among the foreign carriers. A shuttle bus and the airside tram link the two terminals. Slot machines line both terminals, which makes this one of only two US airports to allow them, alongside Reno. The Centurion Lounge in Concourse D and the Club at LAS are the main lounges.
Routes and Destinations
Los Angeles was the busiest domestic route from Las Vegas Airport in the year to May 2026 with around 1.17 million passengers, followed by Denver and San Francisco. Dallas Fort Worth, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Diego all carry heavy traffic, and Southwest’s network spreads the airport’s reach to dozens of smaller cities across the west. Allegiant connects Las Vegas to small towns that no other airline serves.
London Heathrow was the busiest international route in the same period, with about 428,000 passengers, ahead of Mexico City and Toronto. Guadalajara, Vancouver, Calgary, Seoul, Monterrey, Amsterdam, Manchester, Frankfurt and Zurich make up most of the rest. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic fly wide bodies year round. Traffic peaks around the big conventions in January and the fight and race weekends, and dips in the heat of August. Cargo is modest, handled at the Marnell Air Cargo Center.
Getting to and from Las Vegas Airport
There is no rail link. The Las Vegas Monorail stops at MGM Grand, not at the airport, so the choices are road and bus. RTC public buses on routes 108 and 109 run from Terminal 1 and are the cheapest sensible option, although they are slow. The Centennial Express serves Terminal 3. Hotel shuttles and shared ride vans serve the Strip for around $12 to $15 a head.
Taxis use a queue outside each terminal and charge roughly $20 to $30 to the central Strip in ten to 15 minutes, with a fixed fare zone system. App based rides pick up from the parking garages. Paradise Road and Russell Road feed the terminals from the north, and the Airport Connector links to the 215 Beltway from the south. The consolidated rental car centre is about 3 miles (5 km) away by shuttle bus. Parking garages sit beside each terminal, with economy lots further out.
Spotting and Photography
Las Vegas Airport has one of the best known spotting sites in America. The Sunset Road viewing area on the southern boundary, a public car park with almost no shade, sits beside the 26 approaches and the departure end of the 08s. Aircraft pass within a few hundred feet. The top floors of the Terminal 1 parking garage overlook the aprons and the 01 and 19 runways with the Strip behind.
The 19 arrivals are the money shot, with the Strip as a backdrop, and level 5 of the MGM Grand self parking garage is a popular place to catch them. Morning light suits the Sunset Road spot and late afternoon suits the Strip side. The desert heat is dangerous in summer, so carry water. Stay in the marked public areas and do not approach the fence, which airport police patrol constantly.
What Comes Next
The airport is close to its practical limit. The site is surrounded by the Strip, housing and the Beltway, and there is no space for new runways. Clark County has long planned a second airport in the Ivanpah Valley near Primm, about 30 miles (48 km) to the south, and the federal environmental review of that site restarted in 2025, although an opening is still many years away.
In the meantime the county is squeezing more from what it has, with gate upgrades in the D concourse, a larger Terminal 3 ticketing hall and improvements to the roads around the terminals. Southwest is reshaping its network and Spirit’s gates have been reallocated. Las Vegas Airport is heading for a decade of managed growth with a second airport as the eventual release valve. See where it sits among the other big US airports on the Airports of the World map.
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