Airport traffic dips, but takeoffs and landings rise

FORT MYERS — Southwest Florida International Airport experienced a 2.8% dip in passengers in January as compared to the same period in 2016.

In all, 892,905 travelers flew through the Fort Myers airport, according to the Lee County Port Authority, the entity that runs the airport.

Southwest Airlines, one of a dozen carriers at the 34-year-old airport, led traffic counts last month with 193,959 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers, according to a statement. Delta Air Lines ranked second, with 164,744 passengers, followed by American Airlines with 112,825, Spirit Airlines with 110,690 and JetBlue Airways, at 96,034.

The airport also had a similar-sized drop in air freight, down 3.1% from January 2016 to roughly 2.5 million pounds.

Although overall traffic counts were down slightly, the airport had a slight uptick — of 1.2% — to 9,014 in total takeoffs and landings during January 2017.

The port authority's other airport property, Page Field, had 9,320 landings and takeoffs last month, an increase of 3.2% vs. the same period in 2016.

For all of last year, Southwest Florida International served 8.6 million passengers, ranking it as one of the nation's top 50 airports for total traffic.