Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport

Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport is in Sarasota County (terminal) and Manatee County (airfield), Florida. Owned by the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, it is three miles north of Sarasota (Sarasota County) and six miles south of Bradenton (Manatee County).The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 called it a primary commercial service airport since it has over 10,000 passenger boardings per year. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 657,157 enplanements in 2011, 2% less than in 2010.Most airlines refer to the airport on maps and flight status displays as just "Sarasota", the more widely known city. The airport is referred to locally as "SRQ" (the airport code). Much of the airline service occurs during winter and spring, as the area is a tourist destination and home for snowbirds during winter and spring.The airport's IATA airport code, "SRQ", is used as a general nickname for the city of Sarasota and Sarasota area, as exemplified by media outlets like SRQ Magazine, WSRQ radio, and numerous local businesses in the area that include SRQ in their names.HistoryNational was SRQ's first airline, moving from Sarasota's old airport by 1945; the April 1957 OAG shows six NA departures a day. Eastern arrived in 1961 and the airport's first jet flights were Eastern 727s in winter 1964–65 (though the longest runway was 5006 ft for a few years after that).