Southwest Florida International Airport

Southwest Florida International Airport is the principal airport for Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, and the entire Southwest Florida Gulf Coast from Sarasota County south to Marco Island. Located 12 mi (19 km) southeast of Fort Myers in Lee County, RSW handles 129 routes to 83 destinations operated by 26 airlines, making it one of the busiest airports in Florida outside the Miami metropolitan area and Orlando. RSW opened in 1983 as a replacement for the smaller and capacity-constrained Page Field, and its growth has tracked the rapid demographic and tourism expansion of Southwest Florida — one of the fastest-growing regions in the US over the past two decades. The airport's catchment is overwhelmingly leisure-oriented, drawing heavy seasonal traffic from the Northeast and Midwest. No airline operates a hub at RSW, but the airport functions as a major focus-city leisure inbound market. Southwest Airlines, Delta, American, United, JetBlue, Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, Alaska Airlines, Avelo, Breeze, Sun Country, and WestJet are all regular operators. Air Canada, WestJet Encore, Air Transat, Sunwing, and a rotation of European charter and seasonal scheduled carriers (Eurowings Discover, Edelweiss, TUI, Condor — on various configurations over recent years) provide international service. The route map is heavily weighted toward the US Northeast (Boston, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore), the Midwest (Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis), and Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax). The airfield sits at 30 ft (9 m) elevation with a single 12,000 ft (3,658 m) asphalt runway, 06/24, one of the longest single runways in Florida and long enough to support any commercial aircraft type. A single unified midfield terminal with three concourses (B, C, and D) handles all operations. The airport was significantly damaged by Hurricane Ian in September 2022 but recovered operationally within days and underwent subsequent facility repairs. A multi-phase expansion plan includes a new second terminal, new concourse, and modernization of core landside facilities to accommodate long-term growth.