Airport celebrates recordbreaking passenger traffic
SPECIAL TO FLORIDA WEEKLY

Passenger totals at Southwest Florida International Airport have increased for the 12th straight month. During the month of July, over 535,000 passengers traveled through the airport, an increase of 6.5 percent compared to July 2006. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 7.5 percent over the same period last year.

"Almost 5.3 million passengers have used our airport this year," said Robert M. Ball, executive director of the Lee County Port Authority. "We have had a solid year of record traffic at Southwest Florida International Airport and I am very proud of our accomplishment."

The traffic leader for the month of July was Delta with 72,985 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (67,032), US Airways (55,596), Air Tran (55,094) and JetBlue (50,194).

There were 5,895 aircraft movements (takeoffs and landings) recorded, marking a 5.5 percent increase compared to July 2006. In addition, over 2.9 million pounds of air freight moved through the airport in July 2007.

Southwest Florida International Airport served more than 7.6 million passengers in 2006 and is one of the top 50 busiest U.S. airports. For more information, log onto www.flylcpa.com ¦