National, America West airlines to fly nonstop to Washington, D.C.

LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas was awarded two non-stop airline flights to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, a move that tourism officials say will bring more East Coast visitors and conventions to the city.

''This gives us another opportunity for another nonstop service into an East Coast city,'' said Bill Mahaffey, manager of transportation for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the city's tourism agency.

''We think it will bring more people out.''

The Department of Transportation awarded Phoenix-based America West Airlines and Las Vegas-based National Airlines one round-trip each between Las Vegas and Washington's Reagan National Airport.

Nevada officials and the state's congressional delegation lobbied the DOT heavily for the new flights.

''This is great news for southern Nevada's tourism industry,'' said Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev. ''These new flights will only ... bring in more visitors from lucrative markets like Washington.''

Reagan National - the closest airport to the nation's capital - used to have a 1,250 mile limit for flights.

Congress last year agreed to add 24 takeoff and landing ''slots'' to the airport each day, in response to legislation introduced by Bryan and John McCain, R-Ariz. That set off a heated competition among the airlines for the coveted new slots.

National officials said they were disappointed that they didn't get more. They had applied for six slots - three round trips between Las Vegas and Washington.

''There are always start-up costs associated with going into a new city,'' National Airlines spokesman Dik Shimizu said. ''We're looking to find the best way to offer this service while not incurring the normally large start-up costs.''

Besides the Las Vegas flights, America West won two daily roundtrips to Phoenix. Frontier Airlines gets a roundtrip to Denver and TWA gets a roundtrip to Los Angeles.

The rest of the slots will be within the old zone. Those winners are America Trans Air with two roundtrips to Chicago, Midwest Express with service to Des Moines, Iowa, Midway Airlines with a roundtrip to Raleigh-Durham, N.C. and Spirit Airlines adds two flights to Florida destinations.

The DOT says the extra flights will provide more service and enhance competition. But critics - including a number of Northern Virginia residents - say it will just increase the amount of airplane noise in the area.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said traveling between Las Vegas and the nation's capitol will now be faster and easier than ever before.

Mahaffey said the flights should bring more conventions to Las Vegas since many associations are headquartered in Washington, D.C.

''This creates a great opportunity for them,'' he said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., called the new flights ''gold in the pocket of the Silver State.''

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said the flights are critical to southern Nevada's future economic health and prosperity.