The airport sits on 13,555 acres (5,486 ha, 21.2 sq.mi.)[5][6] of land just southeast of Fort Myers, making it the third-largest airport in the United States in terms of land size (after Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth). 6,000 acres of the land has been conserved as swamp lands and set aside for environmental mitigation.[7]
History
Planning and construction
Prior to the opening of the airport, the Southwest Florida region was served by Page Field in Fort Myers. By the 1970s, however, it had become clear that Page Field would be too small to handle increasing future demand for commercial flights into the region. Expanding Page Field was determined to be impractical because its airfield was constrained by U.S. 41 to the west and expanding the airfield to the east would require bridging the Ten Mile Canal and relocating a railroad track.[8]
A number of sites were considered for a new regional airport, including southern Charlotte County, Estero, and northeast Cape Coral near Burnt Store Marina. The government of Lee County ultimately selected a site near the end of Daniels Parkway that was a dirt road at the time. An advantage to this location was its proximity to Interstate 75, which was under construction and would have an interchange with Daniels Parkway, providing easy access (Interstate 75 was opened to traffic through Fort Myers in 1979).[citation needed]
Construction of Southwest Florida airport began in 1980, and the airport opened on schedule on May 14, 1983. Upon opening, the airport was named Southwest Florida Regional Airport (the airport code RSW is short for "Regional South-West").[9] Originally, the airport included a single 8400-ft runway and a passenger terminal with 14 gates on two concourses. The original passenger terminal was located on the north side of the runway at the end of Chamberlin Parkway.[10]
In 1986, American Trans Air (later known as ATA) began service to Fort Myers with flights to Indianapolis International Airport, which was the first scheduled service for that airline.[13]
The airport received its first international flight in February 1984 with a direct flight from Toronto operated by Wardair Canada.[14] With increasing demand for international service, a small U.S. Customs facility was built within the original terminal on the lower level of Concourse B.[15][16][17]
The airport was renamed Southwest Florida International Airport on May 14, 1993, which was its tenth anniversary.[18] The name change coincided with an expansion of the terminal which included a 55,000 square foot Federal Inspection facility to replace the first facility. The larger facility opened in 1994 and was connected to the original terminal's Concourse A.[19] The runway was also lengthened to 12,000ft (3,658 m) at the same time to better accommodate international service (making it the fourth-longest runway in Florida).[20]
In 1988, the airport exceeded its annual capacity of 3 million passengers; by 2004, the airport was serving nearly 7 million passengers annually. In 1998, the original terminal was expanded with a new wing added to Concourse B that included three additional gates, bringing the total to 17.[10]
In April 1994, LTU International introduced the following route: Munich–Düsseldorf–Fort Myers–Miami–Düsseldorf–Munich. This was Fort Myers' first flight to Europe.[21] It came in response to rising tourism from Germany, which Lee County had spent the past several years cultivating. The county considered Germany a natural market to target, given the sizable German-American community that lived in Southwest Florida and maintained ties with its country of origin.[22]
Midfield terminal
With the original terminal operating at more than double its intended capacity, construction of the current midfield terminal began in February 2002. The $438 million terminal opened on September 9, 2005. The terminal has three concourses and 28 gates. Demolition of the original terminal north of the airfield was completed in spring 2006. The original terminal's parking lot still stands at the end of Chamberlin Parkway. The former terminal's ramp, now known as North Ramp, is now primarily used as a base for Western Global Airlines, an Estero-based cargo airline.[23]
Recent history
In early 2015, Terminal Access Road, the airport's main entrance road, was extended past Treeline Avenue to connect directly to Interstate 75, allowing airport-related traffic to avoid local streets. The airport can now be accessed directly from the freeway at Exit 128.[24] Terminal Access Road was then expanded to six lanes in late 2016.[25]
Air Berlin, which had bought LTU, ceased service to Düsseldorf in October 2017.[26][27] The following May, Eurowings began routes to Düsseldorf, Munich, and Cologne using Airbus A330s.[28][29] The carrier subsequently dropped the flights to Munich and Cologne. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company suspended its link to Düsseldorf in March 2020.[30]Eurowings Discover launched a route to Frankfurt in March 2022.[31][32]
Current and future projects
A new $16 million Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting facility (Lee County Station 92) opened in July 2013. A 9,100ft (2,800m) parallel runway is in planning. The project includes a relocated air traffic control tower, apron expansion, crossfield taxiway system, mitigation activities and FPL electrical line relocation. The new air traffic control tower was expected to be completed by 2019, but the construction was delayed until its completion in December 2021 and opened in January of 2022.[33] The parallel runway was delayed indefinitely. The apron expansion and crossfield taxiway system were completed in late 2013. The entire project is estimated to cost $454 million.
In early 2018, the Lee County Port Authority (LCPA) announced plans to ease seasonal security wait times by consolidating the three individual concourse checkpoints to a single consolidated checkpoint for all concourses. By relocating the checkpoints, there will be more restaurants, shops, and post-security spaces. According to the announcement by the LCPA, this expansion could cost between $150 million – $180 million.[34] Construction of this expansion is currently underway. The airport is also planning to build another concourse (Concourse E) on the west side of the terminal by 2027.[35]
Plans are in place for Skyplex – a commercial and industrial park in the location of the former passenger terminal. Chamberlin Parkway is currently being realigned, which will remove the roadway loop that once served the former terminal.[36] Other airport-related businesses, such as a hotel, are in the planning stages. A retail gasoline outlet near the airport's entrance opened in June 2014.[37][38]
Southwest Florida International Airport is undergoing a multi‑phase terminal expansion program (reported at about US$1.1 billion) that began in October 2021; the initial phase consolidates security screening into a single enlarged checkpoint, remodels roughly 164,000 square feet and adds about 117,000 square feet of new circulation and concession space, upgrades and expands passenger amenities, and installs infrastructure to support a planned future Concourse E with additional gates, with overall construction scheduled for completion in 2027. [39][40]
Facilities
The entrance at the airport.East AtriumMain Terminal
Airfield
The airport covers 13,555 acres (54.9km2), 10mi (16km) southeast of Fort Myers.[5][41]
Runways
The airport has one runway, designated as runway 06/24. It measures 12,000 x 150ft (3,658 x 46 m) and has an asphalt surface.[5]
In 2024 the airport had 97,077 aircraft operations, averaging 265 per day.[44]
Terminal
798,000sqft (74,100m2)
Design capacity is 10 million passengers per year, with 28 gates on three concourses (current B,C and D). The terminal buildings can be expanded incrementally to 65 gates on five concourses (A-E).
Parking
11,250 spaces for hourly/daily parking located around the main terminal building and the entrance to the facility.
There is a three-story parking structure adjacent from the main terminal, used to house short-term parking.
30-space "cell-phone lot" for customers picking up arriving passengers
Awards
J.D. Power & Associates Airport Satisfaction Study – Ranked 2nd among North American airports with under 10 million annual passengers
Customs and Immigration services for international flights are located on the lower level of Concourse B. The concourses are each completely separate and are not currently connected Airside, though the expansion underway will consolidate the three checkpoints into one. Construction is also underway on a fourth concourse, Concourse E, on the west side of the terminal. Concourse E will include 14 gates and is planned to be complete by the end of 2027.[48] The Concourse A designation has been reserved for an eventual fifth concourse to be added on the east side of the terminal.[35]
Since beginning commercial airline service on May 14, 1983 through the end of 2024, 253,295,640 (enplaned and deplaned) passengers have transited through RSW, average 6,030,849 passengers per year. There have been over 3.1 million aircraft operations at the airport since its opening.
Top destinations
Busiest domestic routes from RSW (January 2025 - December 2024)[102]
On November 28, 2007, asingle-engine fixed wing aircraft crashed one mile (1.6km) west of Runway 6. The pilot was killed.[105]
On April 12, 2009, a Beechcraft King Air 200 (N559DW) was carrying four passengers when the pilot went unconscious and later died. Doug White, a passenger, was guided into the airport by air traffic controller Brian Norton, assisted by controller Dan Favio. It was later reported that White was a single engine private pilot with about 130 hours of experience in single engine aircraft. All passengers aboard survived and the plane was not damaged.[106]
On October 18, 2022, a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 arriving from Newark, NJ safely landed but blew out two tires, stranding it on the airport's lone runway and forcing other incoming flights to be diverted while outbound flights were delayed. The runway was closed for nearly nine hours, as specialized equipment to fix the plane had to be driven over from Orlando.[107]
1 2 "2004 Master Plan"(PDF). Southwest Florida International Airport. Archived(PDF) from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
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