Air traffic to Las Vegas, where nearly half of all visitors arrive by plane, has bounced back steadily since a post-Sept. 11 plunge, with a number of airlines even adding new routes to the city in recent weeks, an airport spokeswoman said on February 22.

Figures due out this week are expected to show that passenger volume through Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport was down about 10 percent in January compared with a year earlier, said airport spokeswoman Hilarie Grey.

That decrease would be a strong improvement over December, when the total volume of arriving and departing passengers was down 14.3 percent on year to 2.54 million passengers.

Passenger volume was down 17.9 percent in November, 16.3 percent in October and a hefty 28.3 percent in September, which included several days when McCarran and all U.S. airports were closed following the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We really are seeing the climb back to normal,'' Grey said. "Barring any unforeseen changes, hopefully by summer we'll be very close to where we were last year.''

The steady rebound in passenger volume has been reflected in the major casinos of this tourist-dependent city, with hotel occupancy approaching year-ago levels while room rates are still down compared with last year.

In a sign that airlines are upbeat about the city's recovery, the number of scheduled flights is back to 90 percent to 95 percent of year-ago levels as carriers have gradually resumed many flights canceled after Sept. 11, Grey said.

One of those was Japan Airlines Co. Ltd. , which canceled all five of its weekly non-stop flights between Tokyo and Las Vegas, but plans to phase the flights back in starting next week.

The airline will run its first resumed flight to the city next Friday, and plans to gradually return to five flights per week by June, Grey said.S

In another sign of confidence from Asian carriers, Singapore Airlines Ltd. next month will announce two new round-trip flights weekly between Las Vegas and Hong Kong with connecting service to Singapore, Grey said.

From Europe, Virgin Atlantic Airways, a unit of Virgin Group , plans to add a third non-stop flight between London and Las Vegas this summer. The airline has continued to operate its two existing flights on the route throughout the months after Sept. 11, Grey said.

Domestically, America West Airlines announced an important resumption earlier this week when it said it would begin service between Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport again on Feb. 27. 슬롯머신

The airline also announced the resumption of additional flights between Las Vegas and Boston, Denver, Dallas and New York starting this month. It said it plans to start new service as well between Las Vegas and Colorado Springs, Colorado and Salt Lake City in the weeks ahead.