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Airport Traffic Spikes As Holiday Travelers Return Home

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By NEIL JOHNSON

njohnson@tampatrib.com

Published: January 5, 2009

TAMPA - The last of the holiday travelers packed Tampa International Airport on Sunday, sending roughly 18,000 more people through the terminal than on a typical day last month.

About 27,000 people were expected to arrive Sunday - with an equal number leaving - as travelers returned home after the four-day New Year's weekend, said airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan.

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

The expected 54,000 travelers at TIA represented a spike from other days during the holiday travel season, which saw an average 24,000 people arriving and 24,000 leaving.

Adding to the increased activity was the normal Sunday boost from cruise ship passengers heading home.

Sunday's airport traffic represented a large jump from non-holiday travel. In early December, the airport was handling about 36,000 passengers a day, Geoghagan said.

Although the holiday travel injected thousands of extra passengers, traffic at the airport remains lower than a year ago.

Airport activity dropped about 10 percent over the Thanksgiving weekend compared with 2007, when there were about 68,000 passengers a day moving through the airport, Geoghagan said.

Today - the last official day of the holiday travel period - should be busy, too, especially during the peak departure hours of 6 to 8 a.m. Business travelers will join leftover holiday flyers, she said.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731.

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