Trade group: Spring will be busy for air travel

Prepare for busier skies, and possibly airports, this spring.

Air travel is expected to be robust this spring travel season with a record 145 million passengers projected to fly on U.S. carriers globally between March 1 and April 30, Airlines for America announced Monday.

That’s up 4 percent from the same period last year, said A4A, a Washington, D.C.-based trade.

During the period, U.S. airlines are expected to add 110,000 daily seats network-wide to meet the extra demand of 89,000 more daily passengers.

“While historically low fares, reliable operations and several consecutive years of reinvestment in the product are the primary factors underlying this growth, a boost in U.S. employment and personal incomes and the highest-ever level of household net worth are also fueling the strong demand for air travel,” said John Heimlich, A4A’s vice president and chief economist, in a statement. “

In South Florida, some airports are preparing for a springtime rush.

Airlines operating at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport have increased overall seat capacity by 15.4 percent between April and June, Steve Belleme, business development manager said.

“There’s been quite a lot of growth, some from new routes and some from existing ones,” Belleme said. “We have 37 more daily departures than the same time last year.”

The primary drivers of the seat increase at Fort LauderdaleHollywood are JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and Southwest Airlines — the airport’s top three carriers, he noted.

“We’re looking forward to a very busy spring.”

New routes set to begin at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood during the next few months include Allegiant nonstop service to Louisville, KY., in May. In June, Southwest Airlines will also begin service to Orlando, Washington Dulles, Cancun, Montego Bay, Belize and Grand Cayman.

Even with Silver Airways’ plan to suspend service to Cuba in late April, the airport will still have “quite a bit of Cuba service,” which it didn’t have the same time last year, Belleme noted. Airlines still offering regular scheduled flights from Fort Lauderdale to Cuba include JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit.

Last year, 31 new or additional flights helped to propel the Fort Lauderdale airport to a record 29.2 million passengers — 2.3 million more than in 2015, airport officials announced recently.

This year passenger traffic is expected to reach 32 million.

At Palm Beach International Airport, a spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Monday.

Meanwhile at Miami International Airport, passenger growth has been flat so far this year, so it’s not expecting to see “a large increase in travel through April”, spokesman Greg Chin said in an email.

Local hotels mixed results.

At B Ocean Resort Fort Lauderdale, the hotel is doing better this spring, although at slightly lower rates from a year ago due to discounting in the Miami market, said Michael Dutton, director of sales and marketing.

“All segments of business are up at the hotel year over year due to more inventory,” he said, noting some rooms couldn’t be sold last year due to property renovations. are also seeing