8 News Now: Rising fuel costs slash thousands of Las Vegas inbound seats

As airfares rise to counteract increasing jet fuel prices, some airlines are also opting to suspend routes to and from Las Vegas.

Economists say the decisions airlines make can impact Las Vegas’ tourism economy, with people changing the way they travel.

“They’re thinking about maybe adjusting a trip, canceling altogether, or spending fewer days, and that it’s going to translate to fewer people coming in, less money being spent,” Nicholas Irwin, an economist with UNLV, said.

As for airline route suspensions, Irwin says they’re a viable option for saving money.

“That’s one way for the airlines to reduce costs,” Irwin said. “If they don’t want to pass as much of those costs to consumers, canceling those low-profit-margin flights could definitely be something they do.”

Delta Airlines is suspending a summer route between Raleigh-Durham and Las Vegas, with high fuel costs as a factor.

“Delta is making adjustments to its Raleigh-Durham–Las Vegas service as part of its routine network planning for the summer season. The route will be paused beginning June 2 and will resume September 8. We apologize for this inconvenience and Delta will directly contact customers to discuss alternate options,” A Delta Airlines spokesperson said.

Delta Airlines said suspending a route takes multiple factors into account.

“These adjustments are not driven by any single factor. Delta routinely adjusts its network as part of its normal planning process and evaluates a range of factors, including seasonality, customer demand, aircraft availability, fuel prices, and broader operational costs and considerations,” A spokesperson for Delta said.

As for Harry Reid International Airport, inbound seat reductions are in the tens of thousands.

“As far as flights – while we see weekly schedule shifts, airlines have specifically attributed the removal of approximately 60,000 inbound seats through October to rising fuel costs,” an airport spokesperson said. “To put that in perspective, over that same seven-month period, about 18.9 million seats are scheduled to arrive at LAS Airport. That means the reduction represents roughly 0.15% of total inbound and outbound capacity. In terms of flights, this equates to fewer than 300 round trips over the entire period.”