 | | Florida's Tampa International Airport & St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport | | | By far the largest Tampa Airport is Tampa International Airport (TIA), located 11 kilometers west of Tampa’s central business district. Acknowledged as one of the country’s more attractive and efficiently designed airports, TIA operates flights to Tampa to almost 70 direct destinations around the United States, the Caribbean, Canada and the UK.
TIA’s revolutionary new Landside terminal was the first of its kind in the world. It is a central terminal that handles check-in and ticketing for all flights to Tampa. From this central point, the ‘satellite’ terminals (known as ‘airsides’) spread out, connected by an elevated people-moving system. International passengers will probably find themselves arriving at Airsides E or F.
Traveling between the airport and the city of Tampa can be time-consuming. Nonetheless, renting a car remains a popular option as, once you get away from the traffic, it is a convenient way of getting around the area.
There are many hotels located near the airport, including a Marriott inside the airport complex itself which features a revolving restaurant. Many of the nearby hotels offer shuttle buses to and from the airport. If you have time to kill between flights, there are a couple of large malls near the airport. The International Plaza Mall and Westshore Plaza Mall feature a variety of shops and movie theaters.
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is smaller than TIA but is popular with residents of St. Petersburg (10 kilometers away) and Clearwater. It is known as the “birthplace of commercial air transportation” because the first air travel tickets were sold here at the beginning of the 20th century.
None of the major airlines fly here, but it is used by several discount airlines that operate from smaller airports in the eastern half of the country, and by low-cost carriers to and from Canada, particularly during the Canadian winter. There is only one terminal at the airport, and the only way to get to the cities of St. Petersburg or Clearwater is by private transport, taxi or shuttle.
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