Reid Announces McCarran Airport Selected For Pilot Program To Reduce Customs Wait Times For Tourists

Press Release

Nevada Senator Harry Reid announced today that McCarran International Airport has been chosen to participate in a Department of Homeland Security public-private partnership that will expand services of U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel. McCarran International Airport is one five airports chosen for this program in 2014. In the Omnibus Appropriations Act, passed in January 2014, Reid included language to allow the Department of Homeland Security to establish five additional partnerships. In a letter attached from May 2014, Reid wrote to Secretary Johnson asking him to consider McCarran International as a part of this pilot.

"McCarran International Airport is on pace to serve more than 40 Million passengers this year," said Reid. "Travelers coming to southern Nevada shouldn't be welcomed by long lines and delays at customs. They should be processed quickly and safely so they can enjoy Las Vegas' hotels, restaurants, entertainment and outdoors. Nevada's economy depends on tourism, and while our economy improving, we are not out of the hole yet. Programs like this one will help grow and support our state's lifeblood."

The five airports that received this pilot program in 2013 saw an additional 9,000 customs officer assignments which decreased their wait times by an average of nearly 30 percent. The other four airports selected for these partnerships are: San Francisco International Airport, Denver International Airport, Los Angeles World Airports and Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

Reid has a long record of support for McCarran's growth. In 2009, Reid placed language in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to allow McCarran to take advantage of a tax exemption to continue building Terminal 3. At the time, Nevada and the country was in the midst of a great recession and financial crisis. The local and state government bond market was frozen, and put the Terminal 3 project in jeopardy. Reid's insertion of language in conference committee allowed work at the airport to continue while saving the airport $80 million in interest costs. In 2010, Reid passed the Travel Promotion Act which increased international travel to the United States, and thus Nevada. Reid also obtained an earmark to build McCarran's new air traffic control tower which will be completed in 2015. The new tower will help the airport manage the large increase in travel to southern Nevada over the past few decades.

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