It’s not looking good in Las Vegas - the number of people flying to and from the gambling mecca was way down last month - off more than 13% compared to last September.

More bad news for the already battered economy of Southern Nevada, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal - especially for Las Vegas - which gets nearly half of its 40-million annual visitors, via the airlines.

Almost all the major carriers were down in September - and, the year - with the notable exception of American Airlines, which had a 1.1% increase in traffic for the year through last month.

But for September alone, this is the worst year-over-year decline, since the months that followed 9/11.

Not good news for Las Vegas.

According to Merrill Lynch analysts, “abundant, cheap seat capacity to Las Vegas — a thing of the past”.

Airlines will continue their capacity cuts into next year and watch capacity (seats) drop another 6+ percent this quarter and another 16 percent by the end of December.

Las Vegas cuts are more severe than in other markets because Vegas visitors tend to be “price sensitive leisure travelers and conventioneers/business travelers”.

Bad news, not just for the passengers, but for the people who run the casinos and the hotels and restaurants: as capacity cuts continue, airfare is expected to rise, and Vegas visitors will have less to spend on all the “fun stuff”.

Let me just add, there will always be some bargains - and you can always rely on us to help you find the cheapest airfare.