The Lee County Port Authority’s Board of Port Commissioners approved a rental relief package for its airlines, concessionaires and other tenants at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) on Sept. 3, 2020, at the Joint Board meeting of the Board of Port Commissioners and Airports Special Management Committee. This program will provide one-month rent relief to the tenants at RSW for fees and charges due under their lease agreements and will cost LCPA approximately $3 million. This initiative comes in addition to the Port Authority’s 90-day fees/rent deferral that was extended to its airport partners in April 2020 to help provide cash flow at the start of the pandemic.
“The Board of Port Commissioners was very pleased to be able to waive September payments for the airlines, concessionaires and other tenants and service providers doing business at Southwest Florida International Airport,” said Commissioner Brian Hamman, chair, Lee County Board of Port Commissioners. “This relief comes at a time when reduction in passenger traffic has led to unprecedented financial losses in nearly every business sector of commercial aviation and we hope it will provide some needed assistance to the stakeholders we rely on to support our airport.”
This tenant relief package will be limited to the following: airline fixed rents, retail, food and beverage fixed rents and concession fees, aviation ground rents, non-airline terminal rents, rental car fixed rents, advertising rents, airport plaza fixed rent and concession fees and tenant employee parking, ground transportation, airline ramp parking and rental car privilege fees.
Southwest Florida International Airport served more than 10.2 million passengers in 2019 and is one of the top 50 U.S. airports for passenger traffic. No ad valorem (property) taxes are used for airport operation or construction.
