May and June totals both higher than in those months during 2022
The Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) has continued its record-setting trends the past two months, as noted in news releases its staff has issued.
In May, the passenger count of 342,837 was up 3%, compared to the figure for May 2022, that release pointed out. In June, the passenger tally climbed 7%, from a total of 288,058 in June 2022 to 309,127 this June, the airport reported.
Through May, SRQ staff pointed out, the sum of passenger figures for the 12 months as of that point marked an 8% uptick, compared to the 12-month count through May 2022. As of the end of May, that report noted, SRQ also had recorded a 15% jump in its passenger tally for the first five months of this year, compared to the same timeframe of 2022.
The June report points out that the 12-month record of activity through that month showed that the airport had served 4,144,917 passengers, a figure that was 9% higher than the 3,795,854 passenger total for the 12 months through June 2022.
Then the staff said that, for the first half of this calendar year, SRQ had marked a 14% increase in passenger traffic, compared to the same period in 2022.
In the news release about the June data, Frederick “Rick” Piccolo, president and CEO of the airport, noted, “The Sarasota Bradenton International Airport continues to trend in exponential growth. We are taking initiative to ensure our forward progress on the multitude of construction projects currently underway. As airlines publish holiday flight schedules we look forward to an increase in available service as compared to 2022.”
By the end of the 2022 calendar year, SRQ had served 3,847,606 passengers, which represented a 21.6% increase over the figure for the previous calendar year, which was in itself a record: 3,163,543 passengers.
Over the past five years, that end-of-year report said, the airport had seen passenger traffic triple. For 2017, the passenger tally was slightly fewer than 1.2 million, SRQ staff noted at that time.
“There continues to be great demand to live, work, and visit our boutique community, and its world-renowned beaches, partake in year-round outdoor activities offered, and experience arts and culture that you would normally only find in a larger city,” SRQ staff wrote. That was all the more reason, the release continued, that the Airport Authority was working on expansion plans — additional aircraft gates, concessions, parking spaces, and other amenities “necessary to facilitate the increased demand impacting our community.”