March busiest month in history of Southwest Florida International Airport

During March, 1,514,046 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. This was an increase of 30 percent compared to March 2021. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 44 percent compared to last year.

“March 2022 was the busiest month in the 39-year history of our airport, as well as the best month recorded at Page Field in nearly 40 years,” said Ben Siegel, CPA, C.M., executive director of the Lee County Port Authority. “We are so pleased to see our airports continuing to not only recover, but thrive. I want to thank our airlines, employees and airport business partners for working together during the busy winter season to accommodate and welcome millions of travelers to Southwest Florida.”

The traffic leader in March was Delta with 284,407 total passengers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (254,061), United (197,294), Spirit (188,373) and American (180,542).

Southwest Florida International Airport had 12,168 aircraft operations, an increase of 6.1 percent compared to March 2021. Page Field saw 14,111 operations, a 10 percent increase compared to March 2021 and the best month recorded in nearly 40 years.

Southwest Florida International Airport served more than 10.3 million passengers in 2021 and is one of the top 50 U.S. airports for passenger traffic. For more, visit flylcpa.com or facebook.com/flyRSW.

Lee County Economic Development, community partners offer workforce, technical assistance programs

The Lee County Economic Develop-ment Office, in collaboration with community partners, offers Workforce Training and Certification programs and a Small Business Technical Assistance Program to assist people, businesses and organizations in response to COVID-19.

The programs were developed under the direction of the Lee Board of County Commissioners and are funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

The Workforce Training & Certification Program will offer micro and rapid credentialing programs in response to the education and skills deficiency for disproportionately affected communities exacerbated by COVID-19. Tuition assistance and scholarships paid through $3 million in ARPA funds will be available for in-demand programs in areas such as health care, real estate/construction and technology offered by Florida Southwestern State College, Florida Gulf Coast University and Hodges University.

The Small Business Technical Assistance Program will be funded by $475,000 paid to local partners offering technical assistance to small businesses and nonprofits such as business mentoring, organizational development, capital access planning and more.

Partners for the assistance program include: Small Business Development Center, SCORE, Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association, SW Florida Impact Partners and Goodwill SWFL – MicroEnterprise Institute

 For a full list of programs and services offered, as well as contact information for the community partners, visit www.leegov.com/ARPA.

Priority Marketing adds Babair as senior account manager

Priority Marketing has hired Julia Babair, APR, CPRC, as a senior account manager focused on helping clients achieve their goals through strategic marketing.

Babair worked at the firm from 2000 to 2010, progressing from an account manager position to vice president for account services, a leadership role in which she managed the account services team and business development initiatives. In her new role as senior account manager, Babair collaborates with the firm’s creative, public relations, media buying, social media, web development and digital teams to develop solutions for clients in the business, nonprofit and government sectors.

Founded in 1992 by Teri Hansen, APR, Priority Marketing is Southwest Florida’s largest full-service marketing, advertising, public relations, website development and digital marketing agency celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022. For more information, please call 239-267-2638 or visit PriorityMarketing.com.