Tampa International Airport, currently handling approximately 25 million passengers annually, is projected to expand its capacity to about 39 million by 2042. This growth is attributed to a rise in air travel, Florida's increasing population, and the surge in tourism attracted to Tampa's beaches. The airport currently ranks as the fourth-busiest airport in Florida, following those in Orlando, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale.
The facility has recently opened a new Airside E, contributing to its infrastructure enhancements. CEO Joe Lopano emphasized, “This is not Tampa’s airport. This is the airport for the west coast of Florida.”
Tampa's leap into aviation history is noteworthy with the January 1, 1914, inaugural flight of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, regarded as the world's first scheduled commercial airline flight using an airplane. Today, the airport's expansion includes a significant increase in international flights to Latin American and Caribbean nations, with 21 nonstop routes compared to only five in 2011.