Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Southwest Florida International Airport (KRSW) is the main commercial gateway to the Fort Myers and Cape Coral region of southwest Florida, operated by the Lee County Port Authority. It is unusual among major US airports in having only a single very long runway, making it the second-busiest single-runway airport in the country after San Diego. For a simulator pilot it offers a long, ILS-equipped strip set within Class C airspace and a busy mix of airline and general aviation traffic.
Southwest Florida International Airport serves Fort Myers and the wider southwest Florida region, including the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Naples-Marco Island and Punta Gorda areas. It is owned and operated by the Lee County Port Authority and is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry. The airport is notable for operating with a single very long runway despite handling over eleven million passengers a year, making it the second-busiest single-runway airport in the United States after San Diego International. Breeze Airways bases operations at the field. For a sim pilot the attraction lies in its enormous 12,000-foot runway, ILS approach and the challenge of integrating with heavy commercial traffic under Class C control.
The airport lies within Class C airspace and sits on a large tract of land, some 13,555 acres, in unincorporated Lee County immediately southeast of Fort Myers. Access from the north is via Daniels Parkway, close to an interchange with Interstate 75. Roughly 6,000 acres of the airport property have been set aside as conserved swampland for environmental mitigation, giving the surrounding terrain a notably undeveloped character compared with the built-up areas nearer the coast.
The airport has a single physical runway, 06/24, orientated broadly northeast-southwest. Runway 06 is 11,976 feet long and runway 24 is 11,975 feet long; both are hard-surfaced (asphalt) and lit. Runway 06 is equipped with an ILS. Field elevation is 26 feet.
Fort Myers Approach/Departure works on 119.75 MHz. The ATIS broadcasts on 124.65 MHz. Clearance delivery is on 132.075 MHz, ground control on 121.9 MHz, and Fort Myers Tower on 128.75 MHz. UNICOM/CTAF is on 122.95 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS for runway 06.
As a Class C, tower-controlled airport with a single very long runway, arriving and departing traffic is worked by Fort Myers Approach/Departure and handed to Fort Myers Tower for the runway environment, with ground control handling taxi instructions and clearance delivery issuing IFR/VFR clearances before departure.
Prior to the airport's construction, southwest Florida's air services were handled by Page Field in Fort Myers, which by the 1970s had become too small and geographically constrained to accommodate growing commercial demand. After considering several sites, Lee County selected a location near the end of Daniels Parkway, close to the newly built Interstate 75. Construction began in 1980 and the airport opened on schedule on May 14, 1983, as Southwest Florida Regional Airport, with a single 8,400-foot runway and a 14-gate terminal on the airfield's north side. Delta Air Lines operated the first flight, and early carriers included Continental, Eastern, Northwest Orient, Ozark, Pan Am, Republic and United. The airport received its first international service in February 1984 with a Wardair Canada flight from Toronto, prompting the construction of a small Customs facility in the original terminal. On its tenth anniversary, May 14, 1993, the airport was renamed Southwest Florida International Airport, coinciding with the opening of a larger Federal Inspection facility and the lengthening of the runway to 12,000 feet to support growing international traffic, making it at the time the fourth-longest runway in Florida. In April 1994, LTU International began Fort Myers' first route to Europe, linking Munich and Dusseldorf via Miami, reflecting strong tourism links with Germany. Passenger numbers grew rapidly, exceeding three million a year by 1988 and nearly seven million by 2004, prompting expansion of the original terminal and, eventually, construction of an entirely new midfield terminal, which opened on September 9, 2005, with three concourses and 28 gates. The original terminal north of the airfield was demolished by spring 2006, though its parking area and ramp, now known as North Ramp, remain in use.
Southwest Florida International Airport remains the principal commercial airport for the region, served by numerous airlines and used as an operating base by Breeze Airways. In 2025 it handled a record 11,154,458 passengers and nearly 100,000 aircraft operations. The airport is undergoing a multiphase terminal expansion, begun in October 2021 and expected to be substantially complete by 2027, which is enlarging security screening, remodelling terminal space and preparing infrastructure for a future additional concourse. The airfield continues to operate with its single long runway, 06/24, handling the mix of airline and general aviation traffic typical of a major single-runway hub.