Home › News › Local news
In the Know Lee County: Plans for Fort Myers to U.K flights never seem to get off the ground at SWFIA
More Local news 
Share and Enjoy 
Q. Are there any plans in the future for flights to be available from Southwest Florida International Airport to the United Kingdom? So many people from the U.K. are frequent visitors to the Naples area I think it would be a great market.
Elizabeth Kennedy
Naples
A. The airport would absolutely love to have a United Kingdom flight. That’s the word from Southwest Florida International Airport spokeswoman Barbara-Anne Urrutia. But so far, carriers haven’t responded to efforts of local airport and tourism representatives to woo them.
LTU has offered flights to both Düsseldorf and Munich in Germany since 1993, but that’s the closest Southwest Florida International passengers can get to the United Kingdom for now.
Barbara-Anne said air travel agreements are reached differently in Europe than in the United States. In the U.S., airports deal directly with airlines to negotiate routes. In Europe, tour operators also weigh in, complicating the process slightly.
A few times in recent years, a deal for a U.K. route has almost been nailed, she said. At the last minute, though, things have fallen apart, usually because of unsettling world events.
“There have been a couple of times that we were almost ready to make an announcement and then something would happen,” Barbara-Anne said.
Airport and tourism staffers manned a booth at a travel trade show in London a few years ago while the new terminal was under construction, hoping to make inroads. The event was productive, but it didn’t result in a airline deal.
Barbara-Anne said the quest for a U.K. route is continuing, these days armed with a new enticement nearly as alluring Southwest Florida’s sunshine and sandy beaches: an exchange rate that makes European currency go a long, long way.
Q. Karie, can you find out about the newly paved four-laned road “to nowhere” east of Village Walk on Bonita Beach Road? Was it a developer-built road and if so for what purpose? Also, how much did it cost to build and did Lee County make concessions in order to have it built?
Ken S.
A. It does look odd at the moment, doesn’t it, Ken?
Naples-based developer Ronto Group paid for the road, which will be a means of transportation for up to 10,000 residents who will live in 3,600 homes on the south side of Bonita Beach Road about 3 1/2 miles east of Interstate 75. Once that area is developed it’s expected to add an estimated 15,365 vehicles per day to Bonita Beach Road. Ronto agreed to build the road and pay about $5 million in additional road impact fees. The developer cut the deal with the city of Bonita Springs, not Lee County, because the land was annexed into the city.
Ronto eventually sold sections of the property to Meritage Homes and Levitt & Sons.
- - -
(Karie Partington is the Bonita Springs Bureau Chief for the Daily News. E-mail questions for this column to her at kjpartington@bonitanews.com. Find a complete archive of the “In the Know” at naplesnews.com/intheknow/)
Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below. Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. Break our rules, and we will ban you. No exceptions, no second chances. Read our privacy policy & user agreement.
Airport and tourism staffers manned a booth at a travel trade show in London a few years ago while the new terminal was under construction, hoping to make inroads. The event was productive, but it didn’t result in a airline deal.
Huh? How was it productive? and to whom?
#1 Posted by alancodi on November 15, 2007 at 9:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, productive because it probably made representatives of some of the carriers aware of the airport's presence but did not result in sealing a deal.
Just a guess....
#2 Posted by jim09091 on November 16, 2007 at 11:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Post your comment
(Requires free registration.)