Tampa International's $1.5 Billion Airside D Takes Shape With Delta as a 20-Year Anchor Tenant
The 16-gate Airside D, Tampa International's first new airside in nearly 20 years, is designed to lift capacity to 35 million passengers a year, with Delta signed for at least six gates and its first purpose-built Sky Club at TPA.
Tampa International Airport is building the terminal meant to decide its next two decades. Airside D is a $1.528 billion, 600,000-square-foot airside with 16 gates for domestic and international flights, a dedicated Federal Inspection Services area for international arrivals and an eight-lane security checkpoint, Simple Flying reported. The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board approved the 100 percent final design on February 5, construction is well underway with a 300-ton crane raising 6,200 tons of structural steel, and about 200 workers are on site daily.
Delta Air Lines has signed on as the anchor tenant with a 20-year lease for at least six of the 16 gates, including a mezzanine-level Delta Sky Club — the carrier's first purpose-built lounge at TPA. Delta operates about 45 daily departures from Tampa today, including year-round Amsterdam service on the Airbus A330-900neo, its first year-round widebody international service from the airport, according to the reporting.
The case for the building is in the airport's own numbers. TPA handled 24.5 million passengers in fiscal year 2025, approaching the 25 million capacity ceiling the airport authority identified as Airside D's trigger, and the new airside is designed to expand annual capacity to 35 million by 2037. About 50 percent of Tampa's international origin-and-destination traffic currently uses other Florida airports, primarily Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale; Airside D's international arrivals capacity is built to win some of that traffic back. Completion is targeted for late 2028 with a public opening in 2029.
