TPA sees highest number of passengers since March
Tampa International Airport saw a slight but significant uptick in Labor Day travelers over the long weekend, including its highest daily count since traffic plummeted in late March.
Between Thursday, Sept. 3, and Monday, Sept. 7, more than 117,000 arriving and departing passengers traveled through TPA. On Friday, the Airport served nearly 27,000 passengers – its busiest day since the COVID-19 pandemic reduced business by more than 90 percent in late March and early April.
“It’s encouraging to see our travelers have decided it’s time to fly again,” said John Tiliacos, TPA’s Executive Vice President of Operations and Customer Service. “Since the start of this pandemic, our goal has always been to make Tampa International Airport as safe and clean as possible for our passengers so they can travel comfortably when they’re ready to do so.”
TPA is still seeing significantly less traffic than it did prior to the pandemic slowdown. During the same Labor Day period last year, approximately 293,000 passengers flew through TPA.
September and October are typically the slowest travel months of the year for Florida airports. The Airport had a bleak spring break before seeing traffic pick up in June, hitting between 20,000 and 25,000 daily passengers.
But that traffic decreased in July alongside the rise in COVID-19 cases in Florida and TPA experienced a leveling off between 15,000 and 20,000 daily passengers throughout July and August.
TPA’s busiest periods are typically the five-week spring break period, Thanksgiving week and the two or three weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Day. Labor Day weekend is not usually considered a busy weekend for air travel.