McCarran International Airport's much anticipated new $2.4 billion Terminal 3 opens for business Wednesday, June 27, with the arrival of an overnight Virgin Atlantic from London. Although it is essentially replacing the current worn out Terminal 2, the airport's old international gateway, which an official described as being having been held together in recent years "with baling wire and bubble gum," Terminal 3 will also service flights by Alaska Airlines, Frontier, JetBlue, Sun Country, Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, and United. International carriers include AeroMexico, Air Berlin, Air Canada, ArkeFly, British Airways, Condor, Copa (which will operate the second incoming flight, and its inaugural nonstop flight from Panama City, on Wednesday), Korean Air, Philippine Airlines, Sunwing, Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic Airways, VivaAerobus, Volaris, WestJet, and XL Airways France.
Not all the changeovers will happen on Wednesday. While the international operators will all transition to T3 by end of day Thursday, the majority of the domestic carriers affected won't move to T3 until July 31. Ticketing and baggage claim for United and Hawaiian will move to T3 August 22, but their flights will still operate out of T1's D Gates, which are now linked to T3 via an underground tram. Click here for a plan of the new facility.
