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Last Weekend Day Of Holiday Packs TIA

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 4, 2009

TAMPA - The last weekend day of this year's holiday season has packed Tampa International Airport, sending roughly 18,000 more people through the terminal than on a typical day last month.

TIA spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said about 27,000 people are expected to arrive today with the same number departing as travelers head for home or return home after the four-day New Year's weekend.

"It's definitely because of the holiday," she said.

The 54,000 people hitting the skies marks a boost from the passengers that used the airport so far this holiday season. This year, the airport handled about 24,000 arrivals and 24,000 departures a day during the holiday travel period.

Adding to the increase in airport activity is the normal boost on Sundays when cruise ships disgorge passengers who head to the airport after their cruises.

The airport traffic today is a large jump from non-holiday travel. In early December, the airport was handling about 36,000 passengers a day, Geoghagan said.

While the holiday travel injected thousands of extra passengers, traffic at the airport remains below last year.

Airport activity dropped about 10 percent this Thanksgiving weekend compared to last year when there were about 68,000 passengers a day moving through the airport, Geoghagan said.

And Monday, especially during the peak departure hours of 6 to 8 a.m., should be busy. On Monday, business travelers will join the left-over holiday flyers, she said.

Monday also marks the last day of what airport officials consider the holiday travel period when they will tally the holiday travel total.

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