Locals boost Punta Gorda air traffic

PUNTA GORDA — The Punta Gorda Airport posted a 150% increase in passenger traffic in September, boosted by local residents traveling north.

Discount airline Allegiant Air provides nonstop jet service from Punta Gorda to 21 cities. The airline specializes in carrying passengers from secondary markets such as Niagara Falls, N.Y., Peoria, Ill., and Youngstown, Ohio to vacation destinations.

The Charlotte County Airport Authority says 26,423 passengers passed through the Punta Gorda Airport in September. The fall months are traditionally slower months for air traffic at Gulf Coast airports, but the number of passengers traveling through the Punta Gorda Airport in September was 150% greater than the number in September 2013.

“Even though Allegiant cuts back on their flights in the later part of September and early October, the Punta Gorda Airport passenger numbers increased,” says Don Lee, chairman of the Charlotte County Airport Authority, operator of the Punta Gorda Airport, in a statement. “This indicates that Floridians are headed north for the summer and early fall.”