Dec. 16—November was the second-busiest month in the history of Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

The local airport welcomed 321,643 travelers last month, bringing its year-to-date passenger total up to 2,816,275. The November numbers are 203% higher than the 106,195 passengers the airport saw during the same month last year, as people were starting to travel more during the pandemic.

As the year wraps up and the weather gets cold in the northeast, airlines are adding and resuming service at Sarasota- Bradenton. This week, Allegiant Air begins new nonstop service to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C.; Delta Air Lines restarts seasonal service to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Detroit, Michigan; and JetBlue Airways resumes its service to Newark, New Jersey.

More than 3 million people are expected to travel through Sarasota- Bradenton before the end of the year.

In January, Avelo Airlines starts service to New Haven, Connecticut, and in March, Allegiant will begin new nonstop flights to to Akron- Canton, Ohio and Appleton, Wisconsin.

Sarasota- Bradenton has benefitted from increased travel demand after the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the addition of new service. Southwest Airlines, for example, launched at SRQ in February and now serves 20 destinations.

To deal with its exponential growth, the airport is planning a massive, multimillion dollar expansion. Plans include a new ground transportation center, new rental car facilities, a terminal expansion, new restaurants and an observation area.

July was the busiest month in the airport's history with 326,947 passengers.

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