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43-646: Southwest Florida International Airport ( IATA : RSW , ICAO : KRSW , FAA LID : RSW ) is a major county-owned airport in the South Fort Myers area of unincorporated Lee County , Florida , United States . The airport serves the Southwest Florida region, including the Cape Coral-Fort Myers , Naples-Marco Island , and Punta Gorda metropolitan areas, and is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry. It currently

86-546: A natural market to target, given the sizable German-American community that lived in Southwest Florida and maintained ties with its country of origin. With the original terminal operating at more than double its intended capacity, construction of a new Midfield Terminal Complex began in February 2002. The $ 438 million terminal opened on September 9, 2005. The terminal has three concourses and 28 gates. Demolition of

129-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

172-506: A route to Frankfurt in March 2022. A new $ 16 million Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting facility (Lee County Station 92) opened in July 2013. A 9,100 ft (2,800 m) parallel runway is in planning. The project includes a relocated air traffic control tower, apron expansion, crossfield taxiway system, mitigation activities and FPL electrical line relocation. The new air traffic control tower

215-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

258-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

301-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

344-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

387-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

430-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

473-652: Is short for " R egional S outh- W est"). Originally, the airport included a single 8400-ft runway and a passenger terminal with 14 gates on two concourses. The original 1983 terminal was located on the north side of the runway at the end of Chamberlin Parkway. When the airport opened in 1983, Southwest Florida Regional Airport was served by Air Florida Commuter (operated by Finair Express), Continental Airlines , Delta Air Lines , Eastern Air Lines , Northwest Orient Airlines , Ozark Air Lines , Pan Am , Republic Airlines , and United Airlines . Delta Air Lines operated

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516-429: Is the second-busiest single-runway airport in the United States, after San Diego International Airport , California . In 2022, the airport served 10,343,802 passengers, the most in its history. The airport sits on 13,555 acres (5,486 ha, 21.2 sq.mi.) of land just southeast of Fort Myers, making it the third-largest airport in the United States in terms of land size (after Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth ). 6,000 acres of

559-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

602-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

645-477: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . LTU International Too Many Requests If you report this error to

688-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

731-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

774-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

817-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

860-495: The completion of a 55,000 square foot Federal Inspection facility annexed to the original terminal's Concourse A. The runway was also lengthened to 12,000 ft (3,658 m) at the same time to better accommodate international service (making it the fourth-longest runway in Florida). In 1988 the airport exceeded its annual capacity of 3 million passengers; by 2004, the airport was serving nearly 7 million passengers annually. In 1998,

903-421: The end of 2023, over 242 million passengers (enplaned and deplaned) have transited through RSW. There have been just over 3 million aircraft operations at the airport since its opening. LeeTran bus No. 50 serves the airport. Infrastructure and road projects linked the airport's main terminal road to the southbound and northbound lanes of Interstate 75. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

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946-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

989-541: The first flight. By 1985, American Airlines , People Express , Provincetown-Boston Airlines , Southern Express, and USAir were also serving the airport. In 1986, American Trans Air (later known as ATA ) began service to Fort Myers with flights to Indianapolis International Airport , which was the first scheduled service for that airline. The airport was renamed Southwest Florida International Airport in 1993, though it had hosted international flights since 1984 and U.S. Customs since 1987. The name change coincided with

1032-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

1075-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

1118-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

1161-574: The freeway at Exit 128. Terminal Access Road was then expanded to six lanes in late 2016. Air Berlin , which had bought LTU, ceased service to Düsseldorf in October 2017. The following May, Eurowings began routes to Düsseldorf, Munich, and Cologne using Airbus A330s. The carrier subsequently dropped the flights to Munich and Cologne. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the company suspended its link to Düsseldorf in March 2020. Eurowings Discover launched

1204-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

1247-467: The land has been conserved as swamp lands and set aside for environmental mitigation . Prior to the opening of the airport, the region was served by Page Field in Fort Myers. By the 1970s, however, it had become clear that Page Field would be too small to handle increasing future demand for commercial flights into the region. Expanding Page Field was determined to be impractical because its airfield

1290-468: The lower level of Concourse B. The concourses are each completely separate and are not currently connected Airside , though the expansion underway will consolidate the three checkpoints into one. Concourse E is planned to be added on the west side of the terminal by 2027. The Concourse A designation has been reserved for an eventual fifth concourse to be added on the east side of the terminal. Since beginning commercial airline service on May 14, 1983 through

1333-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

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1376-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

1419-560: The original terminal north of the airfield was completed in spring 2006. However, the original terminal's parking lot still stands at the end of Chamberlin Parkway. The former terminal's ramp, now known as North Ramp, is now primarily used as a base for Western Global Airlines , an Estero -based cargo airline. In early 2015, Terminal Access Road, the airport's main entrance road, was extended past Treeline Avenue to connect directly to Interstate 75, allowing airport-related traffic to avoid local streets. The airport can now be accessed directly from

1462-449: The original terminal was expanded with a new wing added to Concourse B which included three additional gates, bringing the total to 17. In April 1994, LTU International introduced the following route: Munich–Düsseldorf–Fort Myers–Miami–Düsseldorf–Munich. This was Fort Myers' first flight to Europe. It came in response to rising tourism from Germany, which Lee County had spent the past several years cultivating. The county considered Germany

1505-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

1548-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

1591-480: The three individual concourse checkpoints to a single consolidated checkpoint for all concourses. By relocating the checkpoints, there will be more restaurants, shops, and post-security spaces. According to the announcement by the LCPA, this expansion could cost between $ 150 million – $ 180 million. Construction of this expansion is currently underway. The airport is also planning to build another concourse (Concourse E) on

1634-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

1677-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

1720-867: The west side of the terminal by 2027. Plans are in place for Skyplex – a commercial and industrial park in the location of the former passenger terminal. Chamberlin Parkway is currently being realigned which will remove the roadway loop that once served the former terminal. Other airport-related businesses, such as a hotel, are in the planning stages. A retail gasoline outlet near the airport's entrance opened in June 2014. The airport has one terminal with three concourses: Concourse B serves Air Canada , Alaska Airlines , Avelo Airlines , Eurowings , Frontier , Southwest , and Sun Country ; Concourse C serves Delta , United , and WestJet ; and Concourse D serves American , Breeze , JetBlue , and Spirit . Customs and Immigration services for international flights are located on

1763-449: Was a dirt road at the time. An advantage to this location was its proximity to Interstate 75 , which was under construction and would have an interchange with Daniels Parkway, providing easy access (Interstate 75 was opened to traffic through Fort Myers in 1979). Construction of the airport began in 1980 and it opened on schedule on May 14, 1983. Upon opening, the airport was named Southwest Florida Regional Airport (the airport code RSW

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1806-478: Was constrained by U.S. 41 to the west and expanding the airfield to the east would require bridging the Ten Mile Canal and relocating a railroad track. A number of sites were considered for a new regional airport, including southern Charlotte County , Estero , and northeast Cape Coral near Burnt Store Marina . The government of Lee County ultimately selected a site near the end of Daniels Parkway which

1849-641: Was expected to be completed by 2019, but the construction was delayed until its completion in December 2021 and opened in January of 2022. However, the parallel runway was delayed indefinitely. The apron expansion and crossfield taxiway system were completed in late 2013. The entire project is estimated to cost $ 454 million. In early 2018, the Lee County Port Authority (LCPA) announced plans to ease seasonal security wait times by consolidating

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