Southwest Florida International Airport is ranked the 24th busiest U.S. airport for the first quarter of 2022 with more than 2 million travelers. The Fort Myers airport is on pace to eclipse its No. 30 ranking from 2021 when more than 5.5 million passengers traveled through security over the course of the year, according to daily reports from the Transportation Security Administration. 

A 43% traffic increase from pandemic-stricken January and February 2021 was seen over the first two months of the year with 2,194,434 travelers. Comparing this year to pre-pandemic numbers in 2019, there has been about a 1% increase in passenger traffic. 

RSW is ranked just behind Philadelphia and Salt Lake City, both of which had just over 2 million travelers in January and February, and sits ahead of Austin, Texas, and Washington (D.C.) National, which each had nearly 1.8 million travelers. 

With 14 airline partners and 60 nonstop destinations, RSW is expanding its terminal to improve airport efficiency and provide passengers with more amenities and options. The $331 million expansion project started in October 2021 and is expected to take three years to complete. 

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, which is comparable to Southwest Florida International Airport with 11 airline partners and 53 nonstop destinations, has seen just over 1 million passengers in the first three months of 2022.