Thomas Jewsbury, Executive Director, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport
The main challenge for the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is keeping up with growth. “We had a great year. Given the hurricanes and their impact from September to November, we were still over 2.4 million passengers for 2024,” Executive Director Thomas Jewsbury told Invest:.
Could you highlight some achievements over the past year for the airport?
We had a great year. Given the hurricanes and their impact from September to November, we were still over 2.4 million passengers for 2024. That’s impressive, and it shows you how resilient our travel industry is in terms of tourism. We also had several record months – December, June, and July. That goes over well in conversations with airlines, and specifically Allegiant, which is looking at significant growth over the course of the summer of 2025.
Our biggest challenge is keeping up with that growth. We’re in the midst of designing a new terminal, allowing us to expand gates, provide efficiencies, and consolidate checkpoints. We’re trying to keep ahead of the game. It’s certainly a good challenge to have. We also continue to see increased revenue among our concessionaires, food and beverage, news and gifts, parking, etc.
What is the status of the airport’s $200 million expansion announced last year?
We have been working over the years to obtain federal and state grants, while also using our reserves so we can fund that expansion with no debt, even if it comes in at that $200 million cost. We’re going to have more room space and a couple of additional gates. The majority of the new expansion will be second-floor loading supported by passenger boarding bridges. We’ll have an extensive news and gifts and food and beverage concession area.
As it stands now, the terminal is laid out with two separate hold room areas and two separate TSA checkpoints which doesn’t provide efficiency. The terminal expansion will combine these facilities and help make the terminal more efficient, giving us the greater opportunity for continued growth.
Have you observed any changes in the types of travelers coming through the airport?
Allegiant is our dominant carrier and it focuses on the leisure traveler. But because we offer so many nonstop destinations – over 60 – that has shifted over the past couple of years. Right now, about 10% of our travelers are business travelers. That has been a shift that we have seen and which we have certainly embraced.
What is driving businesses to relocate to Tampa Bay?
Certainly, it’s the quality of life we have here. It’s also the chambers, economic development, and Visit St. Pete-Clearwater that have worked collaboratively in finding attractive ways to bring them to the community. There’s just so much to offer, but it comes down to quality of life for a company’s employees and just the overall opportunities that are available.
How is the airport using technology and innovation to improve passenger experiences and operational efficiency?
We just implemented what’s called a common-use system for the airlines at the different ticket counters, check-in locations, and at departure gate areas. These are universal systems that are not exclusive to one airline, meaning anyone can login from anywhere. That was completed last year. We’re also looking forward to the opportunity that the terminal expansion will provide, especially working with the TSA and others to see what type of innovation they’re looking at down the road so we can plan for it and be ready, whether it’s implemented during construction or something we can plan for in the future.
What is the airport’s key strategic plan for continuing to grow over the near term?
Part of our strategic plan is trying to keep ahead of the growth. One of the biggest issues is vehicle parking. Over the past couple of years, during peak periods like the holiday seasons, we’ve had to recommend or encourage people to get dropped off at the airport, or take an Uber or Lyft, just because we get close to capacity. We’re going to be designing a parking garage later this year to address that. The terminal expansion will also help in that area.
How are economic challenges impacting the airport’s operations?
Labor challenges are certainly not what they used to be a couple of years ago when we were coming through the pandemic. We’re good there. Construction cost, on the other hand, is a crapshoot. You plan for it based on inflation, but it’s still hard to get ahead of the game as far as the change in costs.
One of the biggest frustrations and challenges over the past year has been unfunded mandates that have come down from the TSA. It’s not just our airport, but commercial service airports nationwide. The TSA now requires the airports to screen aviation workers who are going into secure areas of the airport. For us, we had to contract that out to our Sheriff’s Department. This unfunded TSA mandate has a significant cost associated with it.
What would you say are the biggest opportunities available for continuing growth?
The biggest opportunities fall back onto the terminal. We make sure our concessionaires and tenants are part of the planning process, so we don’t just venture forward on our own and look back and say, we could have done this or we could have done that. We’ve been spending a lot of time and planning to get to this point. This is a result of our airport master plan that was completed four years ago. We are taking that plan and moving forward in providing opportunities for growth because they are there.
