Spring Break brings record number of passengers to TPA

Surge in spring break travel at TPA

FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia spoke with passengers and TPA officials about the increased traffic over spring break.

TAMPA - The spring break travel season continued Saturday, a day Tampa International Airport officials believed would be the single busiest day during the entire five-week spring break period.

The airport is forecasting at least four days in March with over 100,000 passengers, something they’ve never seen before.

Big picture view:

Saturday, March 15 is expected to be the single busiest day over spring break – which runs from March 1 to April 6 -- with 101,502 potential passengers moving through security.

"We call it the Super Bowl of the airport, because it's so busy during this time of year," TPA spokesperson Emily Nipps said earlier this week.

Spring Break brings record number of passengers to TPA

MORE: Tampa International Airport gears up for busy spring break season: ‘Our Super Bowl’

Joan and Jeremy Barnes spent the last week in Indian Shores and were flying back to their home in Cincinnati on Saturday.

"Well, we love the people and the food, the seafood. We don't have seafood in Cincinnati!" Joan Barnes replied, when asked why her family picked Tampa Bay as their preferred vacation destination. "And the beach: We don't have a beach either!"

Spring Break brings record number of passengers to TPA

Meanwhile, Madeira Beach eighth grader, Chris Melnick, said he’s been looking forward to his family’s spring break trip for a while now. He’s off from school for next week.

"We’re going to travel to Mexico City and go to Puebla and see all the pyramids," Melnick said.

TPA officials said during spring break, they see more car rentals compared to the holidays. In fact, some passengers told FOX 13 that Saturday’s rental car lines were long.

"Spring break is different in that it's spread out for long periods of time. We see lots of families going through this time of year, and a lot of people that are renting cars, because they’re visiting Florida. They don’t have any place to get around, so they have to rent cars here."

Timeline:

Following March 15, the airport expects the next busiest travel days to be March 29, March 22, and March 16.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia.

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