Tampa International Airport (TPA) has a special place in my heart. I grew up in Tampa, so it used to by home airport back when I’d do mileage runs. My dad still lives in Tampa, so it’s an airport I return to all the time. On top of that, it’s just generally an awesome mid-size airport — it’s so easy to use thanks to the central concourse, with several smaller terminals.
In late 2024, Tampa Airport previewed its first new terminal in around 20 years. I’d like to provide an update, as the terminal’s final design has just been revealed, along with some additional updates.
In this post:
The basics of the new Tampa Airport Airside D
Tampa Airport’s new Airside D is expected to open to the public in 2029, so the bad news is that we’ll have to wait at least a few more years before this becomes a reality (a year ago the opening was supposed to be in 2028, so that’s not exactly great progress so far!).
Airside D is intended to help the airport grow from 25 million to 35 million passengers per year by 2037, so it’s a vital part of the airport’s overall vision for expansion.
The new Tampa Airport Airside D is expected to cost a little over $1.5 billion to build, and will feature:
- A total of 16 gates, including an international passenger arrival processing area, meaning this will be the new terminal for international flights
- An orthogonal shape with 600,000 square feet, for greater space and operational efficiency; it’ll be connected from the main terminal by a shuttle system, as is the case with the current setup
- A mezzanine level for two airline lounges with views of the airfield and the bay
- Shopping and dining locations at the center of the airside, offering 360-degree views of the gates
- A large open space featuring intuitive wayfinding and natural light
The airport has just released renderings of the finalized design for Airside D, which have been made public for the first time. The renderings show soaring ceilings, bright interiors, a large international arrivals corridor, and more.
Tampa Airport Airside D will house Delta, two lounges
So far, we know that Delta will be one of the primary tenants of Tampa Airport Airside D, and will be getting at least six gates in the new terminal. Presumably all international airlines will fly here, so you can also expect this to house carriers like Aeromexico, Avianca, British Airways, Copa Airlines, Discover Airlines, Edelweiss Air, Virgin Atlantic, etc.
We also know that this terminal will be getting two lounges. So far, it has been confirmed that Delta will be opening an 18,000 square foot Sky Club in the terminal, which should be a major improvement over the current lounge.
More broadly, I’m excited to see the lounge portfolio at Tampa Airport grow, and I’m curious to see what kind of terminal “musical chairs” we see.
Currently Tampa has only three lounges — an American Admirals Club in Airside F, a Delta Sky Club in Airside E, and the International Club Lounge in Airside F (used by Virgin Atlantic). Those are the only options, and there are no other lounges.
While I love Tampa Airport’s small concourses for the purposes of easily getting from the curb to the gate, the various concourses aren’t connected airside, so this isn’t ideal in terms of lounge access. For example, airlines like Discover and Edelweiss depart from Airside F, but can’t offer their premium passengers any lounge access.
With Delta moving to Airside D, I can’t help but wonder what this means for the overall terminal dynamics:
- I think it’s likely that American and United won’t be moving to Airside D, since it’s unlikely they’d have the available gate space, with Delta taking at least six of the 16 gates, plus international flights departing from there
- This means that the Delta Sky Club in Airside E will become vacant; could we see United move from Airside A to Airside E, and take over the space of the former Delta Sky Club? That seems like a real possibility to me, but who knows…
- The second lounge in Airside D won’t be an airline lounge, but will instead be a common-use lounge; maybe it will be a lounge accessible with Priority Pass, since that’s good for passengers in general, and it’s also valuable in terms of all international airlines having somewhere to send premium passengers
- While I’d love to see it, I suspect that Tampa Airport won’t be getting a credit card lounge, like an Amex Centurion Lounge, Capital One Lounge, or Chase Sapphire Lounge; after all, these lounges don’t generally act as contract lounges, and that’ll be needed for all the international departures
I wonder if we’ll see Delta expand its network in Tampa, or if the carrier is happy with its current growth. Right now, Delta offers flights to Amsterdam (AMS), plus joint venture partner Virgin Atlantic flies to London (LHR).
Bottom line
In 2029, Tampa Airport will be getting its first new concourse in 20 years, with the opening of Airside D. This will be the airport’s new international terminal, and it’ll be over 600,000 square feet, will feature 16 gates, and will have two lounges.
Delta will be one of the primary tenants in the concourse. Delta will have at least six of the 16 gates, and will also have an 18,000 square foot Sky Club. It remains to be seen what the second lounge will be, though it’s expected to be a common use lounge… maybe The Club at TPA?
What do you make of the plans for Tampa Airport Airside D?
Maybe a new hotel too??
As a TPA based flyer, this is wonderful news. I’m looking forward to seeing the new international routes that Airside D will bring.
My guess is that this will result in having an even less premium product by AA by comparison. The Admirals Club there needs a total reboot with much improved bathrooms. TPA is a market where the right plays at the airport drive credit card spend. My guess is that Deltas share of spend will increase with the new terminal.
Looks nice! On the topic of new buildings, Alaska opened a new training center published a very cool video about it. The gym looks a little sparse compared to the rest of the facility but the video is quite well done.
https://youtu.be/X7hhCaQnR-s?si=9IpqGzValSE1m4_w
I have lived all over the world and traveled all over the world. For the past 27 years Tampa International has been my home airport and all of us in the Tampa Bay Area are so proud of our beautiful airport. The ease of use, the artwork, the always pleasant airport employees, the FB outlets. TPA in the begining of the "new airport era" of the early '70s was ahead of its time and has...
I have lived all over the world and traveled all over the world. For the past 27 years Tampa International has been my home airport and all of us in the Tampa Bay Area are so proud of our beautiful airport. The ease of use, the artwork, the always pleasant airport employees, the FB outlets. TPA in the begining of the "new airport era" of the early '70s was ahead of its time and has been so well managed over the years.
TPA is just one of the Gems of our amazing region. Looking forward to the new terminal. It will be awesome !
I’ve only visited the Tampa airport once, many years ago, but I remember being impressed by the facilities and the fact that they had free Wi-Fi when it was not very common. Keep it up!
I also grew up in Tampa for a part of my childhood (like Ben), and I have so many amazing memories of flying out of that airport. I haven't flown through TPA in about 8 years now, and I miss it dearly (I still haven't had a chance to see the airport after the big renovation of the central terminal - or the giant flamingo).
Happy to see it coming along as I fly SAN-TPA a lot but it doesn’t look like Alaska will be part of the new terminal. I’d be happy with a lounge.
I believe Capital One contracts with Turkish at DFW. Turkish gave me an access pass when flying Business Class
FinnAir as well
I guess we will be stuck with the outdated, way too small AA AC. I generally find TPA one of the better airports. The tram takes all of 30 seconds to gates. So there is long walks like at MIA.
At least MIA does have a tram for D. If you had to go from D15 to D50, unless you want the exercise, time to use that 'skytrain'... oh wait, you Keys get the cart, doncha?
Not sure how to solve this problem, but airports moving away from smaller concourses and terminals is a huge accessibility issue. My grandma is not wheelchair bound in normal day-to-day life, but she's forced to ask for help at large airports because she doesn't have the legs to stand in long lines and walk all the way to her gate. She's had a helper leave her in the middle of a terminal (not where her...
Not sure how to solve this problem, but airports moving away from smaller concourses and terminals is a huge accessibility issue. My grandma is not wheelchair bound in normal day-to-day life, but she's forced to ask for help at large airports because she doesn't have the legs to stand in long lines and walk all the way to her gate. She's had a helper leave her in the middle of a terminal (not where her flight was) because they asked for a tip and she didn't have cash on her, given she normally doesn't live in a country with tipping culture. ICN T2 is an example of one of these new terminals that looks cool on Instagram but can be functionally very tiring for some people to navigate
I grew up in Pasco County and TPA used to be my home airport so seeing the change has been exciting compared to how it used to look. It's still the easiest airport in the country from curb to gate, in my opinion. These renderings look exactly like the new MCO south terminal; assuming it's the same architect for both.
Nice. Other than over-crowding at peak times, TPA is pretty good these days (gotta like that massive flamingo indoors); the train to the massive rental car center/parking is quite nice.
I defer to others on whether Delta and its JV partners offer any other major O&D flights out of Tampa- not sure what business or leisure demand there may be beyond MEX, LHR, and AMS. Geographically, it's not suited to transatlantic connections, and Latin America only makes sense if LATAM will fly to Tampa (but not sure why Delta and LATAM would choose that over Miami or even Orlando). So in that sense, the only...
I defer to others on whether Delta and its JV partners offer any other major O&D flights out of Tampa- not sure what business or leisure demand there may be beyond MEX, LHR, and AMS. Geographically, it's not suited to transatlantic connections, and Latin America only makes sense if LATAM will fly to Tampa (but not sure why Delta and LATAM would choose that over Miami or even Orlando). So in that sense, the only thing I can think of would be seasonal service to CDG. But obviously Delta/Virgin/Aeromexico will all be happy to co-locate going forward like at other major US airports for efficiency's sake (plus what will likely be a good lounge).