Airport traffic breaks record

FORT MYERS — Southwest Florida International Airport broke its December passenger traffic record, pushing the yearly traffic number up 5% to an annual record in 2015.

In December, 835,359 passengers traveled through the Fort Myers airport, a 9.2% increase compared with December 2014. Delta Air Lines carried the most people in December with 170,913 passengers, followed by Southwest (143,329 passengers), JetBlue (99,550), Spirit (94,554) and United (71,605).

“December 2015 was the best December in the 33-year history of the airport and our performance for the year exceeded all expectations to be a historic best with 8,371,801 passengers,” says Robert Ball, executive director of the Lee County Port Authority, in a statement.

The airport benefited from airlines adding larger planes and more frequent service to Fort Myers, as well as adding new destinations. The number of takeoffs and landings at the airport grew 7.7% in December compared with December 2014.

“International traffic showed significant gains with an 11.9% increase compared to 2014,” Ball noted in the statement. Airlines have inaugurated new service to Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba.