By Robert L. Candiotti

I really did not think of it until just a few days ago.

It is now five years since I first read about the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport to be built between Jean and Primm, close to the Southern Nevada/Southern California border along Interstate Highway 15.

Then, a year after that introduction, on July 7, 2007, I launched the first website of my life, IvanpahValley.com.

Since then, every single month, often each week, I have written continuously about the proposed "supplemental airport" that I have found to be constantly interesting, as well as stimulating to my imagination. However, over the past half decade, various involvements of governmental enthusiasm have altered their destinations, and have flown away like departing jets.

Nevada's Clark County Department of Aviation lost interest. Federal Aviation Administration and Bureau of Land Management went away.

Back in the 1990s, the Clark County Department of Aviation was successful at getting the national government to be willing to turn over a very large amount of flat land - 30 miles south of Las Vegas - for a new international airport. The land transfer was passed by the U.S. Congress on October 27, 2000, and President Bill Clinton signed the approval.

The new Las Vegas area international airport, called Ivanpah Valley Airport, was scheduled to be completed in 2018. One of my earliest pages on the website is about the origin - Genesis of Ivanpah Valley Airport (http://ivanpahvalley.com/id2.html) - of the new airport.

But the initial enthusiasm and governmental momentum for Ivanpah Valley Airport have winged away.

However, through five years, I am still motivated by the need for, and excitement about, Ivanpah Valley Airport. I still intend to write about it.

Yet, even if broad enthusiasm for Ivanpah Valley Airport returns, probably the airport cannot be completed until some time in the 2020s.
 

By Robert L. Candiotti

The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) will be held in Las Vegas from October 2 to 6, 2011, at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Over several days, there will be dozens of sessions abut the issues of gambling in casinos, as well as mobile and online gaming.

Throughout the information gatherings, there will be an emphasis on the need for changes. Certainly, there will be talks about North American and South American gaming markets and finances, and there is bound to be talks about brick-and-mortar gaming industry growth in Asia.

At the Global Gaming Expo, there should be discussions about needed changes in Las Vegas, as well. There should seriously be topics related to the future success of Las Vegas, and it should be definitely discussed at the G2E gathering of 2011, because the future of Las Vegas is a subject that has to presently be taken very seriously.

Especially with Las Vegas' gambling mystique diminishing with the glamorous blooming of casinos in the charming Asian gardening area of Singapore, there really should be talking and wondering about the significance of Southern Nevada's proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport as an exciting opportunity for reestablishment of Las Vegas excitement in the realms of gambling and tourism.  

By Robert L. Candiotti

Las Vegas - the historical leader of legal, exciting and safe gambling - is about to fall behind Singapore to become the number three area of the world's gambling.

With just two casinos - Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands (owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp.) - Singapore will surpass the net revenue of the vast Las Vegas Strip. Today, Macau, with 33 casinos, is the definite number one gambling vicinity, and can reportedly grow 25% to 50% more this year.

Las Vegas' gambling achievements are diminishing. Threatened are the fundamental aspects of the city's glittering reputations and solid financial successes.

What can Las Vegas do? The proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport is something that needs to be taken seriously again.

No question, Singapore is a wonderful and sophisticated city-state. Singapore Changi Airport is one of the most highly regarded airports in the world. Changi Airport can handle every single type of commercial aircraft flying from every continent. It handles 5,400 flights each week, and it provides legendary services for 42 million air travelers each year.

Nevada's politicians of every level, and business leaders of every type, need to dust off the awareness of the Ivanpah Valley Airport as an essential requirement for Las Vegas' future success.

McCarran is truly a good airport, but it will simply not be able to handle advanced future requirements of 21st Century long-haul commercial aviation (especially requirements for the Airbus A380) for tomorrow's air transportation in Southern Nevada.

Powerful and visionary people of Nevada need to take a renewed look at an additional Ivanpah Valley Airport. For those who care about the edurability of Las Vegas, they should realize how important Ivanpah Valley Airport really will be. They need to contact the Federal Bureau of Administration, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller, as well as President Barack Obama.

I truly like Las Vegas. And I care about its future. Am I really the only one who recognizes Ivanpah Valley Airport as an important solution for the doleful decline of Las Vegas?
 

By Robert L. Candiotti

In an interesting news story in USA Today, June 21, 2011, "Demand for airline pilots set to soar," it is said by Louis Smith, president of FitOps.com, a pilot career planning website, that the future of world-wide commercial aviation will grow over the next decade "with the longest and largest pilot boom in the history of the industry."

The USA Today article, written by Charisse Jones, states that "Boeing has forecast a need for 466,650 more commercial pilots by 2029 - an average of 23,300 new pilots a year. Jones states, "Nearly 40% of the openings will be to meet the soaring travel market in the Asia-Pacific region." Jones writes that there has been "a four-year drought of job openings," but the turnaround is "predicted to be the biggest surge in pilot hiring in history."

What Boeing is talking about, regarding the big expansion of air travel growth, naturally includes piloting both human and cargo transportation between Asia and the U.S.

America's west coast international destinations will become increasingly busy, and, if Las Vegas stays limited to aviation facilities at McCarran Airport, Southern Nevada will not be able to take advantage - or even keep up - with airline business that will be coming.

To me, this is another reminder that construction of Ivanpah Valley Airport is essential if the Las Vegas region is going to be tied into the future of the world's air travel.

By Robert L. Candiotti

After 40 years of discussion and consideration, it was announced at the end of last month, on May 28, construction of Japan's Chuo Shinkansen Maglev will begin.

The Chuo Shinkansen Maglev will run between Tokyo and Osaka at speeds reaching 600 kilometers an hour. It is reported, from International Maglev Board, Japan's "project is expected to cost 9 trillion yen." The first portion will open between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027. The rest of the line should be complete by 2045.

As far back as the end of 2008, the Ivanpah and NV-CA Maglev Connectivity page (http://www.ivanpahvalley.com/id25.html) on IvanpahValley.com talked about the futuristic connection of a maglev train between Las Vegas and Southern California.

So, for years I have thought about a maglev train flying (of course, along the ground) between the Mojave Desert of Las Vegas and Pacific coastal Orange County of California. Like Japan's Tokyo and Osaka, Las Vegas and Orange County are two significant population areas. Southern Nevada and Southern California are also two highly important tourist centers.

In my mind, without a doubt, the 21st Century Western U.S. transportation - for both humans and business cargo - includes a Nevada-California Maglev. When I read in 2010 that Senator Harry Reid was shifting his support from the 300 mph, magnetically levitated, NV-CA Maglev to a train of steel wheels on steel rails plodding to Victorville that is situated in the middle of nowhere, I was both stunned and laughing out loud.

And I certainly was not the only one who was shaking his head. Las Vegas newspaper articles said the majority of citizens at public hearings were baffled about a train to Victorville. For example, written by Richard N. Velotta in the Las Vegas Sun article dated October 13, 2010, "Victorville? Crowd at hearing perplexed by train's proposed route," he wrote that "most just viewed the Victorville stopping point as a head-scratcher."

People were scratching their heads. Personally, it also affected by head. In my case, I got a headache.

However, now having read that Japan's Chuo Shinkansen Maglev will, after decades of delay, be built, I see hope for here. Just like what has happened in Japan, I see the possibility of NV-CA potential: Transportation that is truly useful for the future. Transportation that is impressive and relevant to both citizens and cargo. Something truly exciting. And a true science fiction future that is fun to read about.

Like in Japan, I hope the same kind of thing can happen between the essential geographic points of Southern Nevada and Southern California. In Japan, to be finally agreed upon has taken 40 years. Here, I would be pleased if it can be accomplished in a decade, more or less.