TAMPA — Tampa International Airport had its busiest month on record in March.
That's thanks in part to spring break travel.
From March 4 to April 11, the airport served more than 2.4 million passengers. Southwest Airlines increased its flights by 32 percent and was a major contributor to the surge in service. On March 26, the airport set a record for the number of checked bags passing from terminal to airlines at 27,774, according to a presentation by the airport staff at Monday morning's Hillsborough County Aviation Authority meeting.
Sales at the airport's restaurants and retail stores were up by 12.5 percent compared to spring break last year. Food and beverage sales were up by 13.1 percent, and retail sales were up by 11.6 percent. Duty free sales were up 5.4 percent.
For the first half of the fiscal year, October through March, TIA served more than 9.7 million passengers, which is 5.7 percent more than in the first half of fiscal year 2015. Southwest, one of the airport's dominant carriers for domestic flights, saw a 4.6 percent jump in passenger growth compared to the same time last year. Spirit Airlines saw the largest spike in passenger growth from October to March this year at 54.5 percent. Air Canada saw a 10.6 percent increase.
Lufthansa, which started direct service to Frankfurt, Germany, in October, had served 64,368 passengers through March.
For the first half of the fiscal year, the airport has exceeded its budgeted bottom line by $1.7 million, or an increase of 9.2 percent.
Contact Justine Griffin at jgriffin@tampabay.com. Follow@SunBizGriffin.