12
October
2020
|
23:56 PM
Europe/Amsterdam

TPA passenger traffic continues to climb to highest daily numbers since March

Passengers following social distancing while waiting for airside shuttle
Passengers following social distancing while waiting for airside shuttle

Tampa International Airport continues to see a slow but steady uptick in passengers as the air travel industry rolls out new safety initiatives and airlines restore service throughout the country.

Over the past week, TPA has seen its three highest daily passenger counts since traffic plummeted more than 90 percent in late March and early April due to COVID-19. On Sunday, TPA served approximately 30,620 guests. Earlier in the week, TPA had two consecutive days with more than 28,000 passengers, a threshold that hadn’t been reached in more than six months.

“We remain hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us and that passengers are gradually feeling more confident in making travel plans,” said Executive Vice President of Operations and Customer Service John Tiliacos. “We will be relentless in doing everything in our power to restore passenger confidence in flying again, which includes providing the cleanest airport terminal facilities and voluntary COVID-19 testing for all passengers.”

Despite the gradual increase in passengers, TPA’s passenger numbers are still down significantly compared to this time last year. For the same week in 2019, TPA’s passenger traffic is down about 58.6 percent.

September and October tend to be the slowest travel months of the year for Florida airports, with traffic picking up significantly in November for the holidays.

Tampa International Airport has taken extensive steps to ensure the safety and well-being of all travelers, including a first-in-the-nation COVID-19 testing center that provides voluntary screening for any arriving and departing passengers.

Since the testing pilot launched on Oct. 1, more than 1,000 passengers have gotten tested. Of those, 450 have received the rapid antigen test while another 553 have received the PCR test.

As the airport works to provide clean and safe facilities, airlines are bringing back important service to TPA. Airlines continue to add new flights and resume previously served markets from TPA in response to increasing passenger numbers. For the month of October, airlines started or resumed 13 routes from TPA.