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St. Pete-Clearwater airport gets FAA grant

 
Published May 26, 2015

St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport landed a $5.7 million Federal Aviation Administration grant to demolish and repave an area reserved for parking commercial aircraft.

The Pinellas County airport, which offers flights to more than 40 destinations throughout the United States and Canada, year-round and seasonally, received the grant through an airport improvement program.

St. Pete-Clearwater competed against other airports across the country for the funds, said Tom Jewsbury, the airport's director.

"We were able to secure $4.45 million in discretionary funds, which means we had to justify to the FAA why we needed the funds over other airports for this particular project," Jewsbury said.

The additional $1.29 million came from FAA funds supported by user fees and fuel taxes, among other sources.

The repaving of the airplane parking area at the terminal is a routine safety renovation.

Airport officials plan to begin work in August and hope to finish by early next year. Construction will be done in phases so flights aren't affected.

U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, and Pinellas County Commission Chairman John Morroni attended a news conference at the airport Tuesday.

"The passenger service at the airport continues to grow, reaching record levels. This federal grant will help ensure the airport is prepared to safely meet the demand for increased service in the coming years," Jolly said in a news release.

The airport has recently recorded big gains in passenger traffic. St. Pete-Clearwater recorded a 27 percent increase in domestic passenger traffic and 38 percent increase in international traffic over past year for the month of March, despite losing PeoplExpress, a discount airline, late last year when the company suspended service. In 2014, St. Pete-Clearwater tracked more that 1.2 million passengers.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air is the airport's dominant carrier. Allegiant added three new flights to and from St. Pete-Clearwater this month — Tulsa, Okla.; Akron, Ohio; and Durham, N.C.