With air travel down more than 95 percent, the Tampa Bay Times reports the Tampa International Airport will delay or cancel nearly $906 million in construction projects over the next five years.
During April, passenger counts at Tampa International fell nearly 96 percent, with fewer than 86,000 passengers for the month. That’s down from more than 2 million for the same month in 2019.
“We’re going to put our plans and dreams on hold,” airport chief executive officer Joe Lopano told the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. “These are tough decisions, but we continue to operate. We haven’t skipped a beat at this airport.”
According to the Times, the biggest project to be affected will be Airside D, a $690 million plan to add 16 new gates for domestic or international flights. Construction on that new air side originally was expected to be done in late 2024. Now it will be delayed four years.
Lopano was quoted in the article saying, “We will re-evaluate our deferrals as we see the market come back.” In the meantime, projects already underway as part of the airport’s master-planned $2 billion expansion will continue to move forward.