Airport Week: Diving into the history and data of RSW's busiest month of the year

Kendall Little, Fort Myers News-Press
·2 min read
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Note to readers: The News-Press and Naples Daily News are providing special coverage of Southwest Florida International Airport. We are calling it "Airport Week." March is traditionally the busiest month of the year with more than 1,000,000 travelers expected to come and go through Fort Myers. Look for stories all week about RSW , including today's installment on the history of the airport's busiest month.

March Madness has arrived in Fort Myers ― and we're not talking about basketball.

Between spring break and snowbirds, March is historically the busiest month for the Southwest Florida International Airport.

Did you know?

Since 2011, the airport has handled more than 1,000,000 passengers every March with the exception of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It's the equivalent of the entire population of Cape Coral (population just over 200,000) passing through the airport five times this month. This year won't be any different.

Here's a breakdown of RSW's past March statistics:

What does RSW stand for? Florida airports are numerous. Here's a list of the letter codes for all of them

Travelers fill a concourse as they prepare to depart from Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Friday, March 1, 2024.
Travelers fill a concourse as they prepare to depart from Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Friday, March 1, 2024.

A history of busy springs at RSW

March has always been a busy month for South Florida as the weather warms up and people come to visit. The combination of spring break and snowbird season brings heavy traffic to our local airport.

Here's a breakdown of the airport's March passenger data in the last ten years:

  • 2014: 1,147,059 passengers

  • 2015: 1,181,382 passengers

  • 2016: 1,269,961 passengers

  • 2017: 1,252,124 passengers

  • 2018: 1,379,728 passengers

  • 2019: 1,482,239 passengers

  • 2020: 861,221 passengers

  • 2021: 1,162,342 passengers

  • 2022: 1,514,046 passengers

  • 2023: 1,166,442 passengers

Challenges: What March brings to RSW's support team

Though March brings great business to the airport, it also brings a unique set of challenges. This is what RSW says are some of the realities that underscore its busiest month on the calendar:

  • The airport is constrained with gates, concessions, and the passenger concourse capacity during peak season

  • RSW has more than 4.25 times the traffic in March than September

  • Security checkpoints are very congested and TSA needs additional screening space to conform to new standards

Construction on some of the existing concourses continues at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Friday, March 1, 2024.
Construction on some of the existing concourses continues at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Friday, March 1, 2024.

New airport projects

RSW is taking on several significant Capital Improvement Projects to handle further increases in passenger traffic not just in March, but for the entire year:

  • Terminal expansion project: $331M, estimated completion in 2025

    • Creates single TSA checkpoint

    • Passengers can walk between concourses

    • Adds 164,000 square feet of remodeled space with 117,000 square feet of new walkways and concession space

  • Terminal expansion project two: $800M, targeted completion 2027

    • Adds Concourse E with 14 gates

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: RSW in Fort Myers records highest passenger traffic in March