Fort Lauderdale Aviation: FLL and Executive Airport

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is run by the Broward County Aviation Department, a Broward County agency at 100 Terminal Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315 (FLL, Broward County Aviation Department).

The FLL site also lists North Perry Airport in Hollywood under Broward County airports, and North Perry is hosting an HWO 5K on the Runway on November 7, 2026 (FLL home page). Ground transportation providers using E-Bill Express reach the Finance Division at 954-359-2583. The City of Fort Lauderdale runs a separate airport of its own, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

The split matters for vendors: the Broward County Aviation Department hosts the FLL Industry Day on airport projects and procurement opportunities (FLL home page), while the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport administers land leases and the development of airport property at the Uptown field (Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport).

The Florida Department of Transportation credits FLL with 110,047 jobs and Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport with 22,959 jobs in its 2022 Statewide Aviation Economic Impact Study (FDOT, FLL profile; FDOT, FXE profile).

FDOT defines jobs as the sum of full time and part time employees, the total number of people employed as a result of the airport within a defined geography or industry. The FDOT profile adds $8.8 billion in value added for FLL (FDOT). FDOT describes the 2022 study as its most recent, an update of the 2019 study, so the Fort Lauderdale airport numbers describe the airports as of that study, not 2026.

Airlines also show up in the Broward employer rankings. Spirit Airlines reported 2,700 employees and JetBlue with JetBlue Travel Products 2,369 in the 2025 list of the ten largest Broward County employers (School Board of Broward County annual report, Table 19).

FLL has two runways listed by FDOT, 10L/28R and 10R/28L, and both are available for precision instrument, non-precision instrument and visual approaches (FDOT licensing inspection, FLL).

The FDOT record for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International lists the most recent inspection report as February 13, 2026, with 3 identified deficiencies and 0 state-funded projects for deficiency mitigation (FDOT). Runway 10L at FLL lists 9,000 feet of takeoff run available and 8,424 feet of landing distance available, with its threshold displaced 576 feet; Runway 28R lists 9,000 and 8,394 feet, with its threshold displaced 606 feet. FDOT notes that the runway figures show the state of FLL at its most recent inspection and do not capture later changes, and for navigation, landing and other critical flight decisions it urges reference to sources such as the Chart Supplement.

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is a general aviation airport owned and operated by the City of Fort Lauderdale at 6000 NW 21st Ave, in the Uptown Business District, on about 1,000 acres (FXE general information).

FXE lists four fixed base operators for fuel, maintenance and hangars, a 24-hour FAA air traffic control tower, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, 24-hour aircraft rescue and firefighting, 24-hour security and a Fort Lauderdale Police substation (FXE). The Executive Airport reports more than 160,000 annual operations and more than 200,000 visitors a year, and says it is the busiest U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility for clearing international general aviation arrivals.

The Executive Airport also operates the Airport Industrial Airpark and the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Helistop (DT1), and administers the city's Foreign-Trade Zone 241, which offers duty reduction, deferral or elimination on merchandise in the zone (FXE). FXE funds itself from land leases and fuel flowage fees and receives no local tax dollars (ad valorem or property tax); Executive Airport and Airport Industrial Airpark tenants pay about $4 million in taxes a year. Neighbors can report loud aircraft on the 24-hour noise line, 954-828-6666.

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport began as a World War II pilot training field: the U.S. military bought the land in 1941, and the runways were completed on March 15, 1943 (FXE history).

The site was first called West Prospect Road Satellite Field #1 and became known as West Prospect Field; as war surplus property it was deeded to the City of Fort Lauderdale with covenants requiring aviation use (FXE history). It sat mostly unused until 1959, when an aircraft maintenance training hangar went up. In 1966 the city built an air traffic control cab on top of the baseball stadium beside the field, and four years later the FAA took over tower operations.

By the early 1970s the Fort Lauderdale airport had adopted a lease-only policy for its land to ensure recurring revenue and prevent further loss of land. In the 1980s it had 500 based aircraft, and a state study found it supported 3,000 employees and $42 million in payroll, compared with 22,959 jobs in the 2022 FDOT study (FXE history).

The 1960s growth of the Fort Lauderdale field came with land sales: the airport struggled to generate revenue, and portions of its outlying land were sold to support infrastructure improvement projects, which drew Sunbeam-Oster, Harris Corporation and Allied-Bendix Corporation to the area (FXE history). In the 1970s the FAA built the original control tower, the city built a U.S. Customs building and ramp, and the FAA designated FXE a super reliever airport approved for an Instrument Landing System. In the 1980s the Fort Lauderdale airport began to operate without a loss, and its first Airport Master Plan and Part 150 Noise Study were conducted; as an outcome of the Part 150 study the FAA agreed to operate the tower 24 hours a day, and the airport agreed to reimburse the FAA for nighttime staffing.

Operations at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport peaked in 2000 at 259,876 a year, well above the more than 160,000 it reports now (FXE history). The 2000s brought Foreign Trade Zone #241, about $30.5 million of airfield safety improvement projects, the Downtown Helistop, the Airport Administration Building and a new fire station that also houses the city Emergency Operations Center. In the 1990s the airport had paid back its loans to the City of Fort Lauderdale with interest and installed what it calls the world's first fully integrated Airport Noise Operations and Monitoring System.

CareerSource Broward counts 382 aviation and aerospace companies with 14,068 jobs and a $73,735 average salary in Broward County, citing JobsEQ data (CareerSource Broward).

The CareerSource Broward aviation page lists air traffic controllers, aviation inspectors, aircraft mechanics and service technicians, aerospace engineering and operations technicians and airfield operations specialists among the careers in the Broward industry (CareerSource Broward). The page does not give a date for the JobsEQ figures.

At FLL itself, the Broward County Aviation Department held its first FLL Industry Day on November 14 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, a November 2025 event for prime vendors and subcontractors on major airport projects in development (FLL home page). FLL posted a September 8, 2026 notice on a new food court in Terminal 3, Concourse E, and says the airport is home to more than 60 pieces of public art.

A practical point for travelers on cruise days: FLL warns that with multiple ships in South Florida ports, airlines at FLL may only check bags up to two hours before a scheduled flight (FLL cruise passengers advisory). The advisory applies during peak cruise travel activity; for scale, Port Everglades, an enterprise fund of Broward County government, reported a record 4.7 million cruise guests in Fiscal Year 2025 (Port Everglades, June 5, 2026).