If you fly between Las Vegas and the Dallas area, your search has always started with two airport codes: DFW and DAL. Next week it gets a third. Avelo Airlines starts nonstop flights between Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) and McKinney National Airport (DTX) on Thursday, November 12, and the Texas end of this route is not a new gate at a familiar airport. It is a brand-new commercial airport, opening the day before, on the north side of Dallas.
A Brand-New Airport, Not a New Gate at DFW
McKinney National Airport has handled general aviation, private planes and corporate flying, for more than 40 years, according to the City of McKinney. Commercial passenger service is new. The airport opens a newly built 46,000-square-foot passenger terminal on Wednesday, November 11, and Avelo's launch flights coincide with that opening. The city says general aviation will keep operating under the airport code TKI, while commercial flights and passengers use the code DTX.
Avelo is the anchor tenant and launch airline, and so far it is the only airline set to offer scheduled passenger service there, AirlineGeeks reported on October 15. Avelo will base three Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft at DTX, creating about 150 jobs, and its McKinney network grows to 11 nonstop destinations in total.
The Las Vegas Schedule, Day by Day
Las Vegas is in the first wave of routes, alongside Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa in Florida. Here is the Las Vegas pattern to plan around:
- Starts: Thursday, November 12, 2026
- Launch schedule: four flights a week, on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday
- Peak holiday season: six flights a week, adding Wednesday and Saturday
- No service: Tuesday, the one day the route does not run
- Book at: AveloAir.com
Avelo added the two extra weekly Las Vegas flights before the route even launched, citing strong demand. Founder and CEO Andrew Levy said, "We’re also growing our Las Vegas service to six weekly flights to meet strong demand." Denver, Atlanta, New Orleans and Nashville flights follow in mid-December, so Las Vegas is a founding route, not an add-on.
How to Use This Route Right
The fresh insight here is geographic. DTX serves the north side of the Dallas area, so this flight rewards travelers whose real destination sits in places like McKinney and the wider Collin County suburbs, and it rewards Las Vegas locals heading that way just as much. Used right, it can take the long cross-metro airport drive out of the trip entirely.
- Search DTX, not DFW or DAL. The flight will not show up in a Dallas search built around the two big airports, so enter McKinney's commercial code directly at AveloAir.com.
- Match your days first. In the launch weeks, only Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday work. If your trip needs a Tuesday flight, this is not your route yet.
- Compare door to door, not fare to fare. If you are staying in downtown Dallas or Fort Worth, weigh the drive north to DTX against flying into DFW or Love Field. If your people are in Collin County, DTX is likely the shorter ground trip.
- Treat it as point to point. Avelo is the only scheduled airline at DTX, so plan this as a start-to-finish flight between two cities, not as a connection to somewhere else.
Las Vegas gains new nonstop routes regularly, but it rarely gains a whole new airport at the other end. On November 12, North Texas gets a shorter path to the Strip, and that is worth knowing before the first plane lands.
