More than 479-thousand passengers used the International airport in October. That’s down one-percent from the same time last year. Lee County Port Authority spokeswoman Susan Sanders says the dip is not worrisome. She notes the opening of the new terminal and a rebound in tourism numbers. Sanders blames the decline on one thing: Hurricane Wilma, which hit southwest Florida on October 24th.

“We really think that this isn’t indicative of any kind of a trend because we can pretty much see the impact of Hurricane Wilma by looking at these numbers. We actually were impacted much more by Wilma than we were by Charlie.”

The airport closed for one day and airlines canceled more than 250 flights before, during and after the storm. Sanders says the airport is still ahead of last year’s record numbers by 14-percent and is on-track to pass 7-million passengers by year-end.