Visitors return, but spend less in Vegas
More and more people are coming to Las Vegas because of reduced room rates, but they are spending a lot less.
More than 3 million people visited Las Vegas during the month, up 4.3 percent from the same time last year. Convention attendance was also up 12.2 percent from September 2008.
Much of the improved visitor numbers can be attributed to Las Vegas resorts willing to fill rooms for less money. Daily hotel room rates in September were down 19 percent from a year ago, to an average $91.18.
However, gaming revenues fell for the 21st straight month, according to the state Gaming Control Board, which said casinos statewide won $911 million in September. That’s a nearly 9 percent decrease from the previous year.
United cuts 50-seat Mesa CRJs
United Airlines is phasing out its 50-seat CRJs that Mesa Air Group operates for them. It has already terminated its contract with Mesa for Dash-8 service.
Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein told ATWOnline that MAG will continue to operate 20 CRJ700s for UA, primarily out of Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles, and that the agreement could be extended to include an additional 10 CRJ700s.
United suspends allegedly drunk pilot
United Airlines has suspended a pilot that was arrested at London’s Heathrow for allegedly being drunk as he was about to take the controls of a Boeing 767 to Chicago.
The incident occurred on Monday before flight UA949, which was bound for Chicago and would have carried 124 passengers and 11 crew. The passengers were accommodated on other flights.
The 51-year-old pilot, whose name was not released, was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport and freed on bail pending the results of alcohol tests, London Metropolitan Police spokesman Simon Fisher said.
(Photo: randomduck/Flickr Creative Commons)
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Wow! I wonder what the plan is for cities like Colorado Springs. I fly to and from Denver en route to points beyond at least once every week and all we have are CRJs and the occasional Dash-8 (SO glad to see those going away at long last). We used to have something like a dozen COS-DEN round-trips per day and they were all 737s or larger. Probably never going to see those days return.
Sure hope United clarifies their plans soon. I will not consistently be flying through Chicago as an alternative. Nor will I be driving to/from Denver every time I turn around. Dang, just as I finally approach 1M miles with United, it may soon be time to start looking at alternatives…
As for that pilot being “drunk,” I’m not so sure. The UK standard is apparently .02, which was characterized in an article yesterday as being about the equivalent of half a glass of beer. Not exactly “drunk” in my book. Having said that, I’d rather that the pilots driving my airplanes be pegged at .00.