Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is set between Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and Dania Beach, about 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) outside Miami. Popular with cruise passengers heading for nearby ports, almost 30 million people pass through FLL every year, which puts it amongst the 20 busiest airports in the country and the 50 busiest in the world.
FLL is a focus airport for Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air, as well as being the largest base for Spirit Airlines and a hub for JetBlue and Norwegian Long Haul. JetBlue, Spirit and Southwest are also the three largest carriers at the airport, accounting for more than 60 per cent of all passengers there.
Offering non-stop flights across the USA, Americas and Europe, with the busiest international routes flying to Central America and the Caribbean, FLL pumps over $13 billion into the local economy every year and is responsible for as many as 140,000 jobs.
An extensive modernization program is underway to extend runways and expand terminals and concourses, so Fort Lauderdale Airport is constantly investing in minimizing delays and congestion.
Location of FLL Airport
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport is located immediately next to the I-95 and I-595 about five miles (eight kilometers) from the center of Fort Lauderdale. The I-95 connects directly with the city center and major cities up and down the east coast, such as Miami, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville. Other Floridian cities such as Tampa, Fort Myers and Sarasota are connected by the I-75, which runs towards Fort Lauderdale, splitting into the I-595 at the edge of the city.
A mixture of public transport options is also available. Broward County Transit runs a route from the center of Fort Lauderdale to the rental car center at the airport and Tri-Rail has services running from West Palm Beach down to the airport rail station at Dania Beach, which has free shuttle connections to the airport itself.
Which terminal?
Fort Lauderdale International Airport is arranged into four terminals with 25 carriers spread across them and Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air using it as a focus city. Each carrier manages departures and arrivals from one unique terminal, so as long as you know your carrier, it's simple to find your way to the right gate.
Moving between terminals takes just a few minutes by catching the courtesy shuttle buses that rotate between the terminals, parking lots and rental car center.
The airlines currently offering public flights to and from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport can be found on the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport website.
Volunteer Airport Ambassadors are on hand throughout FLL to provide basic help and assistance. If you need to ask any questions in advance of traveling, you can call FLL customer services on (+1) 954-359-1200 or speak directly to your airline for inquiries such as reserving a wheelchair.
Book for quiet times if possible
With the modernization of terminals in progress, FLL is very close to capacity and is often extremely busy, so try to book flights departing or landing in the early afternoon or late evening if you can. That’s when the airport is at its most manageable.
Prepare for delays
Capacity issues cause regular delays and overwhelm the WiFi access and concessions at FLL. Until the terminal expansion work is completed, you’re advised to prepare for delays of a few hours, especially if traveling with children. Modernization has been completed in certain areas and the improvement to the facilities, such as ticketing, baggage and security systems, is noticeable.
Avoid sleeping at the airport if possible
Fort Lauderdale landside is open 24 hours a day, but airside shuts down almost entirely overnight, with none of the food, drink or retail concessions remaining open.
There are plenty of nearby hotels with complimentary shuttle services to and from the airport, but if you have to sleep at FLL, make sure you get some snacks and drinks before everything closes.
Quick check-ins for cruise passengers
If you're flying through Fort Lauderdale Airport after a cruise, check with your cruise line beforehand because many of them have a faster, remote baggage check-in service at the airport, which will remove the need for you to deal with the long lines.
History of FLL Airport
Fort Lauderdale International Airport opened as Merle Fogg Field in 1929, constructed by the US Navy primarily to fit civil airliners for military usage, though it was also used as a training facility for Navy pilots. After World War II, the airfield was surplus to military requirements and turned over to the county, which renamed it Broward County International Airport.
The first commercial flights didn't arrive until 1953, after which a trickle of carriers began to run flights at the airport; Northeast, Eastern, National and Delta had all established routes by 1959. In the same year, the first passenger terminal was constructed and passenger numbers reached 100,000 in a year for the first time.
The big development in the 1960s was the arrival of jets, which caused passenger numbers to leap up to a million annually over the next decade. Much more was to come as airline deregulation kicked in and Trans World Airlines (TWA), Western and a brace of smaller airlines added Fort Lauderdale as a destination. By the 1980s, passenger numbers were approaching 10 million and a major rebuild of the terminal complex was undertaken.
The low-cost airline boom of the 1990s brought Spirit to FLL, along with 5,000 new airport parking spaces, a new terminal and new concourses. Spirit and JetBlue both made the airport a hub city and passenger numbers exceeded 20 million by the end of the decade.
Since 2000, demand has continued to rise; 35 million passengers are expected annually by 2020 and further expansion work is underway to add food and retail space and double the number of gates in operation.
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