Sunny skies, gently swaying palm trees, azure blue water – this is a picture filling the heads of some students, their teachers and professors this time of year.
The constant grind of attending classes, doing homework, completing labs, studying for and taking exams, and researching and writing term papers can be exhausting, so many school students and the teachers who plan all these academic activities long for warm sun, sand and surf for their spring break.
Add family beach trips to the mix, and it should come as no surprise that some of the busiest airports during spring break are in Florida.
TSA officers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) had nine separate days with over 60,000 passengers screened during spring break this year. Their busiest day was Sunday, March 23, when 66,828 travelers came through FLL’s checkpoints.
That same day was also the busiest for Miami International Airport, with 96,410 screened passengers leaving the warmth of South Florida, many to return to colder northern states.
Tampa International Airport opened a new Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2)-equipped, mobile driver’s license-enabled checkpoint, just in time for spring break traffic. This new checkpoint helped TSA Tampa screen 296,168 passengers in the checkpoint’s inaugural month, a 5% increase over last year. Tampa’s busiest day was Saturday, March 15, when TSA officers screened 50,574 travelers, setting an airport record.
Rarely in the spotlight, but an increasingly important cog in the Florida spring break wheel, is Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers. Known as “the busiest seasonal airport in the country,” RSW is by no means quiet during spring break.
While the streets in and around Fort Myers are congested during spring break, RSW is breaking and setting new records for a different kind of traffic. The RSW team screened 548,434 passengers between March 16 and April 5. Their busiest day was Saturday, March 22, when 30,292 screened passengers departed through RSW.
You might assume the majority of these travelers are college students. Not so, according to TSA RSW Federal Security Director Robert “Bob” McLaughlin, who said, “We see a lot of families coming to visit their snowbird parents and grandparents.”
Offering golf, fishing, boating and Major League Baseball spring training camps for the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, the Fort Myers area has more than just beaches.
“Yes, we do see college-aged passengers coming through the checkpoint in their pajama bottoms,” said McLaughlin. “But we also see another generation of travelers, dressed to the nines.”
As the busiest regional airport in the country, RSW is “shoulder-staffed” – meaning 80% of the workforce is on duty at any given time and appreciates the addition of National Deployment Officers (NDOs) to make it through their busy season, which starts on New Year’s Day and ends after Easter.
“This busy season, we had to make a difficult decision to require mandatory six-day workweeks for three weeks,” said McLaughlin.
He said communication is key, letting the team know the expectations while being flexible and understanding the needs of his team.
The RSW scheduling team uses historical data along with current flight schedules and booking information provided by airlines to make passenger projections on a monthly, weekly and daily basis. They must account for everyone’s personal schedules and experience, incorporate the NDOs and ensure coverage to fulfill TSA’s mission to protect the nation’s transportation systems.
“I’m in awe of my team and especially scheduling,” said McLaughlin. “They make the impossible possible.”
By Michele Robbins, TSA Strategic Communications & Public Affairs