TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Thanksgiving holiday travel rush is already underway at Tampa International Airport.
TPA officials say they are not expecting record numbers of passengers because some airlines have scheduled fewer flights due to staffing levels.
A projected 725,000 passengers are still expected to pass through the airport during the 12-day travel period around Thanksgiving.
“We are headed north and we’d like to see some snow,” Erica Moulton said.
Moulton and her husband flew Monday night from Tampa to Buffalo, just days after a major snowstorm hit upstate New York.
“Well you know we watch Jeff Berardeli and he promised me the airport would be great up there,” she said.
As airlines rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said people working from home is allowing for more flexible travel plans.
“Just in general we’ve seen an explosion in leisure travel demand and if you look at it,” Biffle said. “The work-from-home crowd has kind of created this work from anywhere so we’re seeing about 1/3 of our customers are traveling five times or more per year.”
With expanded operations at TPA, Biffle said they have planned ahead with staffing of pilots, flight attendants and mechanics to minimize delays and cancellations during the holiday season.
“I can’t guarantee anything ’cause I can’t control the weather and I can’t control air traffic control,” Biffle said. “But I can guarantee we are doing every we can to have smooth operations as possible.”
Moulton and her husband plan to meet their children in Canada. They say traveling to a new destination is their holiday tradition.
“It’s not about sitting around and getting dressed up and having a turkey and all the fixings,” Moulton said. “It really is about going to meet other people and that’s part of the tradition we celebrate.”
During holiday travel, TPA encourages passengers to plan ahead for parking. Spots can be reserved online with discounted pricing before the garages possibly fill up later in the week.
