TIA's Passengers May Soon Double

[Jasonhouse]

TIA's Passengers May Soon Double


By TED JACKOVICS tjackovics@tampatrib.com
Published: Feb 18, 2005




TAMPA - If you think Tampa International Airport is busy now, wait until 2025, when passengers could more than double.
About 28.7 million to 44.6 million passengers could use the airport then, a consultant said. Tampa International now serves 17.3 million annually.

Take into consideration increasing construction costs and it may make sense to build a new main terminal sooner rather than later, aviation officials suggested.

``At some point you must consider: Do you want to spend the money to increase this terminal to handle 25 million to 30 million passengers, or would it be better to spend the money on the first phase of a new terminal,'' said Pete Ricondo, director of Ricondo & Associates of Miami, the consultant for the airport's master plan.

At a workshop of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority on Thursday, Ricondo presented data that will lead to determining alternatives, costs and a timetable for a new terminal and other airport improvements. Ultimately, the aviation authority will create a new master plan for the airport's development over the next 20 years.

``We are not in the process of making decisions now; we are still in the process of gathering information, and the next step will be to develop alternatives,'' Ricondo said.

Tampa International's terminal was planned for 20 million passengers a year. With renovations following an update of the master plan in 1999, that figure now stands at 25 million, a threshold expected to be reached around 2025.

A higher rate of population growth in the Tampa Bay area, more tourism, and travel to and from Cuba will be factors the group must consider.

``We really need to look at what might happen if growth exceeds forecasts,'' Airport Director Louis Miller said.

Three recent surveys of 2,500 passengers produced new information for airport officials:

* Traffic congestion from passenger pickups on the lower, or arrival, level has reached a point of failure and, at times, gridlock. On average, drivers wait 10.5 minutes at the curb for passengers.

Possible solutions include increased enforcement to reduce the waiting time to five minutes.

Officials also are considering building a lot south of the terminal where greeters could park for free to await a cell phone call from passengers who are ready for pickup.

* The main terminal's second-floor, ticketing level appears suited to handle more people, in part because of new technology such as kiosks that print boarding passes and help process baggage.

Congestion has become more frequent on the third floor, or transfer level, where people gather to meet passengers. Security procedures prevent them from waiting at the outlying ``airside'' terminals where aircraft unload.

If the Airside E tram terminal is relocated and moved back somewhat, more waiting room would be created in one part of the transfer level.

The consultants also found an increasingly greater proportion of leisure travelers to business travelers - 62 percent to 38 percent - are using Tampa International than in past surveys that showed a 58 percent to 42 percent ratio.

That remains a healthy mix, better than Orlando and Miami, where 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively, of all travelers are on business, Ricondo said. Those airports tend to be more susceptible to economic slumps in tourism.

Fifty-nine percent of arriving business travelers using Tampa's airport stayed in Hillsborough County and 27 percent stayed in Pinellas, the consultant's survey found.

However, 40 percent of leisure passengers arriving in Tampa stayed in Pinellas, compared with 33 percent in Hillsborough.

Among all departing passengers, 38 percent were from or visited Hillsborough, 33 percent were from Pinellas, and a combined 14 percent were from Sarasota and Manatee counties.

[smiley]

Well, Orlando has much more traffic and probably will for the foreseeable future. Other than that, everything you said was incorrect. I fail to see why you have to be such an ass. You like Orlando, cool - go with it, but stop trying to insult everyone else.

[sarasotan]

yeah orlando is the larger airport, but Tampa Bay is growing fast as well, and with bad congestion likely at MCO and MIA in the future Tampa may become a hub for Latin American flights, especially as the immigrant population grows. Also, 44m is the high-ball number, which means it should be somewhere between 25 and 44m, and it won't be any suprise if 30 or 40m are using Tampa by the twenties.

[Jasonhouse]

The topic is Tampa's airport, not the apparent ego issues some members from Orlando are experiencing.


I doubt that Tampa will grow this fast, but the article was fairly clear in pointing out that this is the traffic contingency that must be planned for, in case certain things happen, like Cuba opening up and so on.

I kind of thought the current plan was to finish Airside C, then do D, then rebuild B, then do the 3rd N-S runway, and then do the new terminal, with it being finished up right around 2020. I guess what they're getting at is they're thinking about leaving an airside or two unfinished, and just building the 2nd terminal beforehand?

[matttampa]

What they are planing on doing to TIA is this:

New Airside C then
Build New Economy Parking garage then
Replace Airside D with a new Control Tower
Build new parallel runway
build new North terminal

This is from inside sources at TIA.

The predicted numbers from TIA are normally very conservative. TIA was only supposed to have had 16.5 mill pax last year.

[smiley]

Airside B is out - they put the baggage thingy there. I also heard, though I am not sure if this changed, that that is the tentative location for a rail link, if they get one ever. (I guess the plan was/is to take a shuttle to the platform) - but with the new rules for airports, who knows.

Airside D is definately a goner.

I am not sure they will do the north complex for 10 years or so. They may try to drag it out - and have been pretty successful doing that over the years - they are way past where they should have been. My problem with the north complex is that it will impede some of the convenience of the airport - sure, you can build a shuttle, but it still detracts. I would rather they somehow expanded the landside they have and add airsides to the north - but that has never been the plan and I doubt it is practical with the hotel there.

[Jasonhouse]

The economy garage is already u/c.

I thought that if they expanded, they were getting rid of the hotel? That's a no brainer to me.

[Agent Orange]

I wonder if they are going to have to relocate or bury Hillsborough Ave if they build the new terminal.

[jvance75]

no....that piece of shit hotel is here to stay, and the north complex will still be just south of hillsborough ave...wont even touch it

[matttampa]

They are building a larger surface lot first. Then they will build the garage. There is 2-3 stages of that project.

[John F]

The Tampa Post Office at TIA will be moved to a new location if and when the Airport expands.

Airside B is indeed a goner as Smiley said. They actually had plans for it to be demolished all together to be used as overnight parking for planes.

[Jasonhouse]

^They did that already, and then turned airside B into a baggage handling area (much, much smaller building that looks like a crappy shed)... I thought that was a temporary thing, and that the baggage handling was being integrated into the new airsides being built, but I guess not.

[matttampa]

^That is the Airside A baggage sort building where airside B used to be.

[jzquince69]

SMILEY calls me as ass... JASON says I have an ego issue...

First of all, what are you guys, the freedom of speech Nazis? You removed my post.

You misunderstood my point. The article's title makes it seem like theres some huge revelation about TPA's increased passenger counts. Well, by 2025, EVERY airport in the country will probably double its present capacity. Thats not news. Thats my point.

I wasn't insulting Tampans or anyone for that matter. I only disagreed with the premise of the article. And how and why would anyone get insulted about my comment about the airport's growth rate?

Besides, I don't have an ego b/c of Orlando or MCO. Shoot, MCO's design is a copy of TPA's terminal. It's not original.

Regarding TPA's business traveller percentage to MCO and MIA's counts, all I did was crunch the numbers so that readers would actually see that regardless of the higher percentage, MIA and MCO had either more business travellers than TPA, or just under TPA's numbers. I was just crunching the numbers the author posted in the article. What's the harm in that? I'm a stats guy, what can I say.

I've got no allegiance to Orlando. I'm a Floridian first. I too have a vested interest to see TPA expand and modernize. I don't want out of staters coming to Tampa bay and Orlando and seeing crap- in any form. That's why I'm happy they are widening I-4; replacing the I-4/I-275 interchange, and replacing many bridges and interchanges in the Orlando area as well (and Polk), as well as all the new construction around all of central florida and Tampa bay.

[smiley]

1) I cannot, and therefore did not, remove your post. I don't have the technology or the authority. Even if I had the power, I would have left it.
2) calling you an ass has nothing to do with limiting your free speech
3) In your first post, you said TIA had basically no growth in the last 15 years - that is plainly false
4) your last post was much better than your first in tone and substance. Keep that up and all will be cool.

[matttampa]

If you are interested, I found a cool site of TIA pictures. http://tampaairport.fourhour.com/index2.html

[jzquince69]

Jason removed my post.

My first post had substance. And I wasn't directing anything derogatory to anyone on this forum. My comment about TPA's growth rate was in comparison to MCO's, not in and of itself. My point being that MCO outgained TPA around 2 to 1 in passenger growth in the last 20 years while TPA, in comparison, hasn't grown much at all, hence the nature of my comment.

The 1999 renovations have already increased its capacity to be able to handle 25m, which they won't reach until 2025. So, what's this need to create hype? I already stated, its to get financial backing for future expansions that may not even be warranted even by then. MCO did the same thing regarding the new international terminal (south terminal).

[sarasotan]

for the person who asked about Hills. Ave, the plan is to make a tunnel underneath the tarmac or re-route the street to the north some

[SDK4]

Originally Posted by matttampa

If you are interested, I found a cool site of TIA pictures. http://tampaairport.fourhour.com/index2.html

those were some pretty nice pictures of TIA. I wish SRQ looked that good and had some of those passengers.

[Jasonhouse]

Originally Posted by jzquince69

Jason removed my post.

It deserved to be deleted. As anyone can plainly see, the Florida forum is very much friction free, and I intend to keep it that way. Your first post came off rather badly, and I deleted it, before it became the inspiration for a flame war. That's all... If there was some sort of problem with you more specifically, you would have gotten a PM about it. There isn't, so don't worry about it.