McCarran International Airport is now Harry Reid International Airport, after the former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate—now retired to Searchlight, Nevada.
An unveiling of renderings ceremony was held Tuesday, December 14 at Terminal 3, with Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, Rory Reid, Senator Reid’s eldest son, Clark County Director of Aviation Rosemary Vassiliades and Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom.
The former senator is considered one of the most influential people in Nevada history. Reid was born in the small mining town of Searchlight in 1939 and worked his way up through various political jobs, such as assemblyman and lieutenant governor, before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1987 to 2017.
Reid, who attended virtually due to his age, 82, and the continued threat of Covid, issued a statement that the name change was the “greatest of honors” and “It has been the greatest privilege of my life.”
Noting that he has flown in and out of the airport since 1958, Reid added, “This airport has been my gateway to the world” and “long ago became synonymous with home.”
Clark County Director of aviation Rosemary Vassiliadis called Reid one of the greatest advocates for the airport. He fought for its expansion during the Great Recession and sponsored the American Recovery Act of 2009, which included a tax relief section that assisted the terminal’s completion on time.
He also helped secure funding for the airport’s $111 million air traffic control project, completed in 2016.
Several local officials have campaigned to change the name of the airport from McCarran to Reid, assisted by the widespread opinion that the U.S. Senator Pat McCarran, who served from 1933-1954, although also an aviation enthusiast, was also a racist and anti-Semite. The airport bore his name since 1968.
