About Page Field

The City of Fort Myers purchased land intending to build a golf course, but eventually decided to establish an airport at the site. A dirt runway was constructed.

The airport began operating as an airmail route between Tampa and Miami on April 1. However, service interruptions due to the rainy season’s effects on the dirt runway were frequently experienced.

Scheduled passenger air service was introduced in Fort Myers by National Airlines, but paved runways were necessary to continue operations. The city did not have the money to complete the project.

On November 7, 1939, the City of Fort Myers deeded the airport to Lee County to qualify for Works Project Administration aid. Construction began on three concrete runways, which were completed by January 1, 1941.

The Army Air Force leased the airport from Lee County for use as a training base. The Lee County Airport was renamed to Page Field, after Captain Richard Channing Moore Page, a local World War I hero and flying ace. To the military, however, it was referred to as Fort Myers Army Air Base.

The base transitioned from bombers to fighters, with training activities focused on the P-39 Airacobra, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-40 Warhawk and P-51 Mustang. At its peak, Page Field was home to 276 officers and 1,393 enlisted.

National Airlines returned to offer its regular passenger service. A new terminal building was opened at Page Field. The terminal would double in size twice over the next ten years due to increased demand and flights.

The first jet to land in Fort Myers, a National Airlines Boeing 727 named “The City of Fort Myers,” offered service to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport and later, Boston.

Deregulation of the airline industry gave more people access to air transportation, and Florida was a hot market. Studies showed that the terminal at Page Field was over capacity and the runways were too short to accommodate modern jets. A new site was chosen to build what is now known as Southwest Florida International Airport.

With the opening of Southwest Florida Regional Airport, Page Field became a general aviation airport.

In 2011, a new FBO complex with terminal building, ramp space and multi-use hangar, Base Operations at Page Field, opened on the west side of the airport. In 2019 an additional multi-use hangar was added to the site. It has since been named among the top FBOs in the Americas in multiple industry pilots’ choice awards. The airport is a thriving flying community with hundreds of aircraft and aviators. It serves as an FAA-designated reliever airport for KRSW, helping to reduce general aviation traffic on its single runway.