"Tampa, Fla., Airport Says It's 'All the Way Back' from 2001"

Friday, May 14, 2004

Tampa, Fla., Airport Says It's 'All the Way Back' from 2001
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times


TAMPA, Fla. -- The numbers at Tampa International Airport keep getting
better.

Air fares are still low, revenue and passenger numbers are growing, and
airport officials have received approval from the Transportation
Security Administration to add airside screening checkpoints that should
ease waiting lines.

"Most airports aren't seeing this kind of success in their passenger
growth," Louis Miller, executive director of the Hillsborough County
Aviation Authority, told his board on Thursday. "We are all the way back
from 2001."

In five of the past seven months, TIA has set records for passenger
counts, easily surpassing the same months of 2000 and 2001 before the
terrorist attacks.

In April, the 821,000 boarding passengers represented a 16 percent
increase over the 710,000 who boarded a year earlier and a 6 percent
increase over April 2001.

Comparing March 2001 to March 2004, food and beverage sales in the
landside terminal soared 18.4 percent and nearly 46 percent at the
airsides. Merchandise sales were up 3.7 percent in the landside
terminal, nearly 42 percent at the airsides.

Public parking revenue was up 11.5 percent. Even rental car revenue, the
slowest market to recover from the terrorist attacks, was up nearly 11
percent from a year earlier. And total gross revenues were up nearly 9
percent.

Increasing passenger numbers coupled with post-9/11 security crackdowns
have resulted in long lines for passengers during peak periods. As early
as today, TIA will open an additional security lane at Airside A to
handle up to 200 passengers an hour.

The airport also has received approval from the TSA to add two
additional lanes to Airside E, though they won't be available until
fall, and to open the new Airside C next April with eight instead of the
previously planned six lanes.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average one-way
domestic fare out of TIA was $124 in the third quarter of 2003, the
latest period for which figures are available. This was the same as Fort
Myers International Airport and lower than Orlando's $127, Miami's $165
and Jacksonville's $132. Only West Palm Beach at $118 and Fort
Lauderdale at $123 were lower than TIA in Florida.


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