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You'd never guess it from the traffic on the roads in March, but airport traffic on the Gulf Coast has been surprisingly soft.
In March, for example, passenger traffic at Southwest Florida International Airport fell 4.6% compared with the same month one year ago. At Tampa International Airport, domestic traffic fell about 1.3% in the same month. (March figures for Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport weren't available at press time.)
Blame it on airline consolidation and higher fuel prices, which have shrunk the number and size of planes flying here. At the Fort Myers airport, for example, takeoffs and landings were down 6% in March compared with the same month a year ago.
“It really tempers the growth,” says Carol Obermeier, director of aviation market development for the Lee County Port Authority. She says that if flights aren't at least 90% full, airlines won't hesitate to move planes to busier routes. “That's what all the airports are seeing right now,” she says.
Thankfully, the hotel industry has seen rising occupancies, so people are getting to the Gulf Coast by car if they're not flying. Perhaps that explains the congestion.
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