Interview: Las Vegas Airport’s Rosemary Vassiliadis

Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of McCarran International Airport System, leads operations at McCarran and oversees four other airports in southern Nevada. Vassiliadis thinks airlines are flat wrong in their opposition to raising the passenger facility charge, or PFC. Airports have long argued for raising this fee to a maximum of $8.50 per passenger, up from $4.50 today, but airlines say doing so would crimp demand for travel. This isn’t true, Vassiliadis argued in this interview, pointing to the many — and higher — ancillary fees that airlines already levy that haven’t dampened demand. Airports are pushing for the increase, ultimately, in order to better serve the passenger, she noted.

Vassiliadis also told Skift Airline Weekly about McCarran’s new air service and plans for a new airport on the California-Nevada border.

Listen to the interview below.