SARASOTA, Fla. — The airport has so many openings they need to fill, they held a job fair to try and get people in the door.
A year ago, as flights were canceled from Florida to Italy due to the pandemic, no one would’ve imagined a year later one airport would be rebounding so fast out of this pandemic. But, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) is going through unprecedented growth.
"Less than three years ago we were at six airlines and 12 destinations,” Mark Stuckey Executive Vice President, and Chief of Staff at SRQ said. “We are now at 10 airlines and 43 destinations so we’ve seen a lot of growth all of our tenants need more employees they’ve been telling us they need more staff.”
Southwest Airlines flew their first route out of SRQ on Valentine’s Day. Stuckey said they were pleasantly surprised to get the major low-cost carrier.
"They are bringing in a massive amount of seats to our market new destinations and they continue to be bullish on our airport and we are hopeful that they continue to grow,” Stuckey said. “We are hopeful we can get a lot of people hired, get all the positions filled working at an airport is very dynamic changing all the time its an exciting place to work.”
At the job fair, there were eight companies represented and the airport received 125 applicants.
One of those applicants was Renee McClenithan.
“Well, I am looking for just the change there are all different kinds of jobs here,” McClenithan said. “And, that’s why I am here, cause I want to do new things and change my life so hopefully it will roll into the positive. I always wanted to work at the airport. I’m like working barely, barely part-time, and I've got to find something else that is going to help me.”
On peak travel days the airport averages more than 10,000 passengers a day. And more routes are planned over spring break and the summer.
“Now that we have the growth returning they are having to backfill these positions its almost every single tenant here at the airport that is hiring right now,” Stuckey said. “We are ready to get people back to work and these flights are lasting through the summer this is long term it's not going away we can see the flight schedules and they are booked through fall.”
To find out more about current openings, the Airport Authority has a website for employment.
McClenithan told ABC Action News after attending the airport job fair the part-time job where she worked offered her full-time, so she stuck with them.
