For the past two years Southwest Florida International Airport has been undergoing an upgrade with 14 more gates being added. Those improvements at RSW are logical given that an ever-growing number of people are coming though RSW.
The RSW project is now in the concluding months says Lee Port Authority executive director and CEO Steve Hennigan.
"The major milestone we just hit is we're two years into this project. We have about 12, 14 months to go. And it's a real indicator of the growth that we're expecting to come to Southwest Florida," he said.
Hennigan showed off the project's current state during a media tour of the site. He said the building being toured was the largest capital project in Lee County history.
"It will be beat by the project we're doing outside, which will become the next largest project in Lee County history," he said, adding that the airport project will bring Southwest Florida's outside environment inside.
"People come to Southwest Florida for the nature to be outside, to see the light, if you will, enjoy the beaches we really want to incorporate outside in. So having that natural light, being able to see the sunset, if you're on the north, northwest side, you'll be able to see the sunset, you'll be able to see the runway," Hennigan said. " So regardless if you're coming in and you say, I'm back home or I'm where I want to be for my vacation or you're heading north to colder climates, you get that one last look to drive you to come back.
Hennigan says that once the project is done end to end, everything and everywhere you walk is going to be new. The only difference will be some of the concourses will still have different flooring, but by and large, all of concessions will be updated and the look and feel will be vastly different than it is today.
The improvement can't come at a more opportune time given that this past March reflected the increased local visitations with a record 1.5 million passengers transiting the airport.
Holding to Hennigan's timeline of 12 to 14 months until finishing, that should just about hit the 2027-28 holiday season.
Figures on the most extreme seasonal surges gleaned by online destination web site Luxury Link from an analysis of TSA passenger screening data for 400 U.S. airports show that Southwest Florida International Airport ranks #63 out of 400 U.S. airports for seasonal airport traffic shifts — measured as the Friday prior to Thanksgiving through the Monday after, and the Friday before Christmas through January 2nd of the next year.
When comparing medium hub airports, Luxury Link showed RSW does even better ranking #1 out of 35 such sites.
Also:
- The Holiday Shift: During the holidays, daily passenger traffic at RSW experiences a +23.0% change compared to the rest of the year.
- Daily Volume: The airport averages 20,209 passengers per day during the holiday rush, compared to 16,436 outside of the holidays.
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