On Monday the Dallas-based airline -- the market leader at McCarran -- added two new flights to and from San Diego for 14 a day and one to Oakland for 13 a day.

As a result, by Southwest's count, the airline has surpassed the 200 barrier, the first time any airline has had that many operations at the Las Vegas airport. The reason I emphasize "by Southwest's count" is that if you look at McCarran's own statistics it would say that as of June, the airline had 195 daily operations and adding three would only put it at 198.

The reason for the discrepancy is that Southwest counts anything that operates at least six times a week as a daily operation; McCarran does not.

Customers who use Southwest frequently know that the airline's Las Vegas schedule includes several flights that won't go out on a Saturday or Sunday.

McCarran statisticians break down Southwest's and all the other airlines' flights fractionally. For some airlines, such as Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air, which specializes in the leisure market, it results in some oddball numbers. In June, McCarran listed Allegiant going to 18 markets -- the fourth-highest number among the 35 carriers serving Las Vegas -- with only 9.43 daily flights.

Southwest celebrated its 200-flight milestone in Las Vegas on Tuesday by dressing its employees in tuxedo T-shirts and shorts, filling the C gates area with balloons and bringing in showgirls and Elvis impersonators to the concourse.

Prior to the addition of the three new flights, Southwest offered 35.9 percent of the commercial passenger flights at McCarran and 34.7 percent of the seats to and from the Las Vegas market. The next closest competitor, America West and its America West Express commuter partner, Mesa Airlines, had 27.9 percent of the flights and 24.4 percent of the seats into the market in June.

While the importance of Southwest to Las Vegas is clear, the city is important to the airline.

The 201 flights a day to and from Las Vegas makes McCarran the largest station in the Southwest system.

As of May 4, Las Vegas and Phoenix were tied for the most operations on the Southwest system, with 197 each. In Las Vegas, Southwest flies to 48 markets from 19 gates. Both the Phoenix and Las Vegas stations were established in 1982.

Southwest's top 10 airports are rounded out by Chicago's Midway Airport, Baltimore, Houston's Hobby International, Oakland, Los Angeles International, Dallas' Love Field, San Diego and Nashville. That list could change in the months ahead, as Southwest plans to continue to grow its Chicago operation and Dallas could move ahead if the airline is successful in its efforts to lobby politicians to repeal the Wright Amendment, which limits Dallas operations.

In other tourism news

Delta's capped fares -- Back in January, Delta Air Lines, which offers 21 flights a day to and from Las Vegas, made news by placing a cap on walk-up fares of $499 one way. The so-called "SimpliFares" forced other legacy carriers like United and Northwest to drop their prices as well.

Delta flies to seven markets from Las Vegas, focusing its business on shuttling passengers to its hub airports of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City and to markets served directly by Delta's low-fare subsidiary Song.

Last week Delta revisited the policy and, in light of oil prices climbing above $60 a barrel, the airline increased the cap on fares to $599 one way.

United and Continental responded with their own increases.

Airline expert Terry Trippler of Cheapseats.com said Delta made an intelligent business decision based on the condition of the market.

"With oil at $60 a barrel and over -- something had to give," Trippler said last week. "Today it did."

Analysts say Delta still isn't out of the woods for making ends meet and the airline could still be facing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the weeks ahead.

'Passage' air date set -- "Nevada Passage," the made-for-TV competition featuring two-person teams competing in adventure sports events at six locations across Nevada, will air on KLAS-TV, Channel 8, at 9 p.m. on Aug. 27.

The hourlong show was developed by the Nevada Commission on Tourism to showcase some of the state's rural tourism attractions.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.