Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Harry Reid International Airport (KLAS) is the primary commercial gateway to Las Vegas, Nevada, sitting in Class B airspace about five miles south of downtown Las Vegas and the Strip. With four parallel hard-surfaced runways, full ILS coverage and one of the busiest traffic counts in the United States, it presents a demanding but memorable destination for simulator pilots wanting to fly into a major hub set against the Las Vegas skyline.
Harry Reid International Airport, formerly McCarran International Airport, is the main airport serving Las Vegas and the surrounding Las Vegas Valley. It is owned by Clark County and operated by the Clark County Department of Aviation, and it is one of the busiest airports in the United States, handling over 58 million passengers in 2024. For a simulator pilot it offers a mix of complex Class B airspace, parallel-runway operations and instrument approaches, all set against the backdrop of the Las Vegas Strip a few miles to the north.
The airport lies within Class B airspace and is located approximately five miles south of downtown Las Vegas, in the unincorporated area of Paradise, Nevada, close to the Las Vegas Strip. It covers around 2,800 acres of land and is the dominant airport in the Las Vegas Valley.
The airport has four physical runways. Runway 08L/26R is the longest, with the 08L threshold at 12,346 ft and the 26R threshold at 13,423 ft; it is a hard, lit surface and 26R is equipped with an ILS. Runway 08R/26L is 10,510 ft, hard surface and lit, with an ILS serving 26L. Runway 01L/19R measures 9,166 ft from 01L and 8,982 ft from 19R, hard surface and lit, with an ILS on 01L. Runway 01R/19L measures 9,269 ft from 01R and 8,885 ft from 19L, also hard surface and lit. Field elevation is 2,113 ft.
Las Vegas Approach is available on 125.025 MHz, with Las Vegas Departure on 125.02 MHz. The tower operates on 119.9 MHz and ground control on 121.1 MHz, with clearance delivery on 118 MHz. The ATIS broadcasts on 132.4 MHz, and Unicom is available on 122.95 MHz. The airport is equipped with ILS approaches, notably to runways 26R, 26L and 01L.
The site now occupied by Harry Reid International Airport began life as Alamo Field, built in 1942 by flight instructor George Crockett, who named it after his forefather Davy Crockett of Alamo fame. Alamo Field opened in January 1943 as a general aviation facility with three gravel runways, a flight school and a terminal building, while commercial airlines instead used the nearby Las Vegas Army Airfield, shared with the Army Air Forces since the attack on Pearl Harbor. That military base closed in 1946. Following a 1947 bond election and negotiations aided by U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, Clark County purchased Crockett's airfield, and on 19 December 1948 it reopened as McCarran Field, taking over commercial passenger flights. Rapid growth followed as the Las Vegas casino industry expanded through the 1950s, passenger numbers rising from 36,000 in 1948 to nearly a million by 1959; United Airlines introduced jet service in September 1960. A new terminal opened in March 1963 to cope with jet-age traffic, and further expansion, including new concourses and lengthened runways, was completed in 1974, though growth soon outpaced the new capacity. Terminal 3 was added in 2012. In December 2021, following a unanimous vote by the Clark County Commission, the airport was renamed Harry Reid International Airport in honour of the former U.S. Senator, moving away from the legacy of Pat McCarran.
Harry Reid International Airport now serves as a major hub, with over 30 airlines operating from its two terminals, and it is an operating base for Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, JSX and Southwest Airlines, the last of which has been the dominant carrier since the 1990s. The airport also handles international flights to destinations in Asia, Europe and North America. General aviation and other international arrivals are subject to U.S. Customs and Border Protection procedures at the field.
