1 Million Passengers - a New Record - Through Southwest Florida International Airport During March.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- More than 1 million passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport during March, making it the busiest month in the airport's 22-year history and marking the first time the airport accommodated a million passengers in a single month. The number of passengers increased by 18 percent compared to March 2004 and contributed to a year-to-date increase of 14 percent.

"March is always the busiest month of the year for the airport, but this year it was phenomenal," said Robert M. Ball, A.A.E., executive director of the Lee County Port Authority. "For the first time in our history, we had almost as many passengers in one month as we accommodated during our first full year of operation. During that entire year - 1984 - 1,311,937 passengers traveled through the airport, compared to 1,017,790 during March 2005.

"There was an increase of more than 1,000 flights for the month - that's almost 34 more flights per day than last year at this time," said Ball. "The biggest flight increases came from Northwest with 155, jetBlue with 152 and Independence Air with 110 additional flights for the month. LTU led our international carriers with an increase of six flights for the month."

Air cargo volume increased by almost 21 percent compared to last March. The 3.4 million pounds of freight placed March only in third place for highest monthly volume. Year to date, air cargo volume is up by 7.5 percent.

Airport Operators Council-North America's 2004 annual traffic report ranked Southwest Florida International Airport as the 48th busiest airport in the United States in terms of passenger traffic, and the fifth busiest in Florida behind Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.

The airport will move passenger operations to a new terminal, nearing completion south of the runway, this summer. The new $438 million facility will open with 28 gates on three concourses and replace the existing 17-gate terminal. For more information, visit the airport's home page at http://www.flylcpa.com.