Known worldwide for its gambling, dining and nightlife, Las Vegas welcomes tens of millions of visitors each year. Tourism in the region is showing upward trends, in part due to the addition of NFL and NHL franchises to “Sin City,” with MLB and NBA teams expected to arrive in the near future.
Rob Lauer, a private pilot and real estate developer, outlined plans for the project, which will focus on both general and commercial space activities.
“It’s a great addition to the existing systems. We’ve seen with recent events how busy the airports here have been,” Lauer said. “There’s video from the Super Bowl where 60 large aircraft couldn’t fly (to the existing airports). Vegas is like no other place in the world for events. We’re a world leader in entertainment, gaming, tourism and conventions. People come here for the experience, and we’ll be offering an experience with air convention opportunities with our own on-site casino hotel in three to four years, maybe sooner.”
The concept of the Las Vegas Executive Airport and Spaceport first emerged several years ago. Shortly after the idea was conceived, Lauer purchased a 240-acre site.
The airport recently received approval from the FAA for its submitted Form 7480-1 Notice of Construction and has taken important steps from the county toward becoming an operational facility.
“We own the Las Vegas Executive Airport name, that’s the official name, and the plan is really simple,” Lauer said. “First, we’re building a 5,000-foot runway and talking to companies about getting started operating an FBO, fuel farm and MRO facility. In addition, we plan to have 40 large hangars with 20,000 square feet of space and 2,000 square feet of offices for lease.”
While the airport is farther from Las Vegas than many other area airports, its remoteness offers advantages not found with other options.
“One of the findings of our airspace analysis, conducted by Brigadier General Robert Novotny (former commander of the 57th Air Wing at Nellis Air Force Base), is that we are just outside of Class Bravo airspace in open VFR airspace,” Lauer said. “This makes it much more cost-effective and efficient for aircraft to fly in and out. Our argument was that having another airport outside of Class Bravo airspace increases the capacity of the Clark County Airport system.”
The focus right now is on building the runway and getting Las Vegas Executive Airport ready to receive its first landing aircraft. The runway is currently planned to be 4,000 feet long, but sits at an elevation of 3,700 feet above sea level. Lauer shared that work is underway to add thresholds and extend the landing distance to 5,000 feet.
“We plan to start construction by the end of the year,” he said. “The good news is it’s a 1 percent grade, so it will only take us a month to level it. Paving the runway and taxiways will take a month, so realistically we could have our runway up and running by the end of the year. Then, depending on county approval, we can start building the FBO, hangars and other infrastructure maybe a couple of months later.”
Major aspects planned for the airport include the fly-in hotel, casino and convention center. One of the planned recurring events at the site will be the Las Vegas Air Races. The 2024 event is planned at another airport in the area, yet to be announced, but future events are expected to be held at the site and immediately follow the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition.
Lauer’s vision goes beyond using the site as a place for GA traffic, including drone and spacecraft operations. The spaceport will be the first of its kind.
“There are technically 16 other certified spaceports in the country,” he said. “All the others are owned by governments (county, state or federal). Our airport and spaceport is the first private one in the United States. Space companies play a big role in our project to build a space economy here in Las Vegas. That’s our focus and we hope to bring space planes from all manufacturers here and operate them from our facility. So you can fly there and do space training activities.”
In July, spaceport officials formally partnered with Nevada UAS Test Site Operator UNR Research and Innovation Nevada Center for Applied Research to build a state-of-the-art drone test site on the spaceport property. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) demonstrates site management’s commitment to investing in the future of aviation.
“Nevada must seize the opportunity to build a thriving economy powered by cutting-edge technology,” Lauer said. “The Las Vegas Spaceport will attract forward-thinking companies that align with our mission to foster new industry in Southern Nevada. We look forward to working with the Nevada Center for Applied Research to build a world-class drone test site that will serve as a beacon of innovation.”
