Southwest Florida International Airport

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"RSW" redirects here. For other uses, see RSW (disambiguation).
Southwest Florida International Airport
RSWLogo.jpg
IATA: RSW – ICAO: KRSW – FAA: RSW
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Lee County Port Authority
Serves Fort Myers, Florida
Location South Fort Myers, Florida
Elevation AMSL 30 ft / 9 m
Coordinates 26°32′10″N 081°45′19″W / 26.53611°N 81.75528°W / 26.53611; -81.75528
Website www.flylcpa.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
6/24 12,000 (BACK-UP SPACE SHUTTLE RUNWAY) 3,658 Asphalt
(6R/24L) (9,100) (2,774) (in planning stage)[Estimated completion date 1/2/2015]
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft operations 89,303
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Southwest Florida International Airport (IATA: RSW, ICAO: KRSW, FAA LID: RSW) is a public county-owned airport located in the South Fort Myers region of unincorporated Lee County, Florida, United States. The airport's service market is Southwest Florida, particularly greater Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, Bonita Springs and Naples. The airport serves as a focus city for AirTran Airways.

The designator RSW was originally assigned for "Regional South-West" (for Southwest Florida Regional Airport). In 1993, the Lee County Port Authority renamed the airport as Southwest Florida International Airport.

In 2008, total passengers numbered 7,603,845. The airport is one of the top 50 busiest for passenger traffic in the U.S and is also a U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry.

LeeTran bus #50 serves the airport.

Contents

[edit] History

RSW was first conceived in 1973, when it became apparent that the existing airport in Fort Myers, Page Field, would not be able to accommodate new aircraft and increased traffic. The government of Lee County, along with Page Field's two carriers National and Eastern, selected a site near Interstate 75, which was under construction at the time. Groundbreaking was held in 1980, and Southwest Florida Regional Airport opened on schedule, May 14, 1983. Delta Air Lines performed the inaugural flight.

The airport was renamed Southwest Florida International Airport in 1993, although it had hosted international flights since 1984 and U.S. Customs since 1987, primarily for services to Germany and other destinations in Europe. Also in 1993, the runway was lengthened to 12,000 ft (3,658 m), designed to accommodate increased international traffic. However, while the airport has hosted Boeing 747s (and notably, the U.S. President's Air Force One), as of 2009, the largest aircraft to use the airport for regularly scheduled service are the Airbus A330-300s operated by Air Berlin on non stop flights to Düsseldorf. The 12,000 Ft runway also serves as backup for the US Space Shuttle.

FAA diagram for Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW)

[edit] Midfield Terminal Complex Expansion

Terminal

In 1988, the airport exceeded its annual capacity of 3 million passengers; by 2004, the airport was serving nearly 7 million passengers annually. The original terminal featured 19 gates on two concourses.

With the original terminal operating at more than double its intended capacity, construction of a new terminal dubbed the Midfield Terminal Complex began in February, 2002. The $438 million[1] terminal opened on September 9, 2005. The terminal has three concourses holding 28 gates, and can eventually be expanded to five concourses with 65 gates. Demolition of the former terminal, located north of the airfield, was completed in the spring of 2006.

[edit] Current and Future Projects

Currently, a new $30 million dollar airport rescue and firefighting facility is in the works and is scheduled for completion by the end of August 2011. In addition, a new 9100 ft parallel runway project will include a relocated air traffic control tower, apron expansion and crossfield taxiway system. The project is projected to cost $538.3 million dollars and its anticipated completion date is January 2015. Other projects include the Madden Research Loop, a 25 acre project consisting of a research complex for the fields of science, technology and medicine. This project is being developed by Gulf Coast Technology Center, Inc. and is expected to be completed in 2010.[2]

Plans are in place for a commercial and industrial park in the location of the old terminal, including airport-related business such as hotels and retail gasoline outlets.[3].

Terminal

[edit] Facilities

RSW East Atrium

Southwest Florida International Airport occupies 3,431 acres (13.88 km²), 10 mi (16 km) southeast of Fort Myers.[1]

Runways[1]
  • Runway 6L/24R: 12,000 x 150 ft (3,658 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
  • Runway 6R/24L: In planning stage, Estimated completion date 1/2/2015
Aircraft[2]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2008, the airport had 89,303 aircraft operations, an average of 244 per day.

Terminal
  • 798,000 ft² (243,230 m²)
  • Design capacity is 10 million passengers per year, with 28 gates on 3 concourses (current B,C and D). The terminal buildings can be expanded incrementally to 65 gates on 5 concourses (A-E)
Parking
  • 11,250 spaces for hourly/daily parking
  • 30-space "cell-phone lot" for customers picking up arriving passengers

[edit] Airlines and destinations

RSW Main Terminal

Southwest Florida International Airport has one terminal with three concourses, two with nine gates and one with ten gates. "Concourses A and E" designations have been reserved for the planned future expansion of the terminal.

[edit] Concourse B

Customs and Immigration services are located on the lower level of Concourse B.

Concourse B has 9 Gates: B1 - B9

Airlines Destinations Gates
Air Berlin Düsseldorf B1
Air Canada Montréal-Trudeau [seasonal], Toronto-Pearson B3
AirTran Airways Akron/Canton [seasonal], Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston [seasonal], Buffalo [seasonal], Chicago-Midway [seasonal], Columbus, Flint [seasonal], Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Washington-Reagan B2, B4, B6
Frontier Airlines Denver [seasonal], Milwaukee [seasonal] B3, B7
Midwest Airlines operated by Republic Airlines Kansas City [seasonal, begins December 17] B3, B7
Spirit Airlines Atlantic City, Chicago-O'Hare, Detroit B8, B9
Sun Country Airlines Minneapolis/St. Paul [seasonal] B7
Sunwing Airlines Toronto-Pearson [seasonal]
United Express operated by Shuttle America Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles [seasonal; begins December 19] B8
USA3000 Airlines Chicago-O'Hare, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky [seasonal], Cleveland, Detroit [seasonal], Philadelphia, Pittsburgh [seasonal], St. Louis B5, B7
WestJet Toronto-Pearson B3

[edit] Concourse C

Concourse C has 9 Gates: C1 - C9

Airlines Destinations Gate
Continental Airlines Cleveland, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark C3, C5
Continental Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines Houston-Intercontinental C3, C5
Delta Air Lines Atlanta, Boston [seasonal], Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Hartford/Springfield [seasonal] C2, C4, C6, C8
Delta Connection Operated by Mesaba Airlines Memphis [seasonal; begins December 17] C2, C4, C6, C8
Northwest Airlines Boston [seasonal], Detroit, Hartford/Springfield [seasonal], Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-La Guardia C2, C4, C6, C8

[edit] Concourse D

Concourse D has 10 Gates: D1 - D8, D9A-B, D10

Airlines Destinations Gate
American Airlines Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis [ends April 4] D10
American Eagle operated by Executive Airlines Miami D9A
Cape Air Key West D9B
JetBlue Airways Boston, Buffalo [seasonal], New York-JFK, Newark, White Plains D6, D8
Southwest Airlines Baltimore, Chicago-Midway, Long Island/Islip [begins March 14], Orlando, Philadelphia, St. Louis D5, D7
US Airways Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington-Reagan [seasonal] D1, D3

[edit] Crashes and incidents

  • November 28, 2007 - A single-engine fixed wing aircraft crashed about 9:20 a.m. one mile (1.6 km) west of Runway 6. The crash killed the pilot. This is the first reported crash on airport property since the airport opened 25 years ago.[4]
  • April 13, 2009 - After the only pilot on board a Super King Air carrying four passengers went unconscious and later died, a passenger, Doug White, was guided into the airport by air traffic controller Brian Norton who was assisted by controller Dan Favio. It was later reported that Doug White is a single engine private pilot with about 130 hours of experience in Cessnas. All passengers aboard survived and the plane was not damaged. [5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Master Record for RSW (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-07-05
  2. ^ http://flylcpa.com/monthlystats/

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Florida_International_Airport"