St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport is a public/military airport in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area. It is right on the northeast municipal boundary of Pinellas Park, north of downtown St. Petersburg, southeast of Clearwater, and southwest of Tampa.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2023–2027 categorized it as a small-hub primary commercial service facility. In 2014, it showed double-digit growth and handled more than one million passengers, setting a record.
The airport uses "Tampa Bay The Easy Way" as an advertising slogan and "Fly2PIE" in reference to its three-letter IATA and FAA codes.
History The airport is on the west shoreline of Tampa Bay, six miles (10 km) north of St. Petersburg, Florida (the "birthplace of commercial air transportation"). Barely a decade after the pioneer flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the first tickets for airline travel were sold by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line of Tony Jannus to fare-paying passengers. Using a Benoist XIV amphibious aircraft, the inaugural flight took place from a location near the downtown St. Petersburg Pier. Mayor Abram C. Pheil of St. Petersburg and Mae Peabody of Dubuque, Iowa, were the first passengers, flying across the bay to Tampa and, according to a United Press account, reportedly reaching the maximum speed of during the flight. Other reports indicate that they reached an altitude of .
This was the beginning of commercial air transportation anywhere in the world and is commemorated by a replica of the Benoist aircraft and a plaque at the airport terminal baggage claim area. Another replica is displayed at the St. Petersburg Museum of History adjacent to the Pier. Since 1991, the terminal holds the archives of the Florida Aviation Historical Society.
Construction and wartime
Construction of the airport at its present site started in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the airport was acquired by the United States Army Air Forces, which used it as a military flight training base assigned to Third Air Force.
The 304th Fighter Squadron, a combat training unit of the 337th Fighter Group based P-40 Warhawks and, later, P-51 Mustangs at Pinellas Army Airfield (as it was then known) for the duration of World War II. Antisubmarine patrols against German U-boats in the Gulf of Mexico were also flown from the airfield.
To commemorate the airport's vital role during that conflict, a plaque was dedicated at the airport terminal in 1994 by the P-51 Fighter Pilots Association and Brigadier General James H. Howard, who was the only European Theater fighter pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II and later served as the last wartime base commander of Pinellas Army Airfield. A permanent exhibit honoring General Howard is located in the terminal.
Postwar operation After World War II, the property was returned to Pinellas County by the U.S. government to operate as a civil airport. It was originally called Pinellas International Airport and given the IATA designation, PIE, which it still uses, because PIA was already taken by Peoria International Airport. In 1958, the name was changed to St. Petersburg–Clearwater International Airport because, according to airport manager "Bobo" Hayes, tourists didn't know where Pinellas County was.
The airport was the original home to two of the first scheduled air freight airlines in the United States, U. S. Airlines (dating to 1946) and Aerovias Sud Americana (1947), which was also known as ASA International Airlines. U. S. Airlines had domestic routes to the northern cities, whereas ASA had routes to Latin America. One of ASA's specialities was flying livestock, and consequently the airport had animal pens to allow ASA to assemble the animals they were flying south.
Airline service: 1950s to mid-2000s
During the 1950s until the mid 1960s, several major U.S. airlines served both St. Petersburg–Clearwater (PIE) and Tampa International Airport (TPA), including Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines and Northwest Airlines. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide lists 17 airline departures from PIE: ten by Eastern, six by National and one by Mackey Airlines. Four departures flew nonstop beyond Florida, including an Eastern Douglas DC-4 to Chicago and a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation to Pittsburgh. In 1956, Mackey Airlines Douglas DC-4s flew to Nassau, Bahamas, via Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.http://www.timetableimages.com , Sept. 5, 1956, Mackey Airlines timetable In 1959, a National Airlines Douglas DC-7B flew to New York City Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport) and Boston via Jacksonville.http://www.timetableimages.com , April 26, 1959, National Airlines timetable In 1960, Delta was operating "Flying Scot" Douglas DC-6s on a St. Petersburg - Atlanta - Knoxville - Cincinnati - Chicago Midway Airport routing.http://www.timetableimages.com , Oct. 30, 1960, Delta Air Lines timetable
With the advent of the jet age, runway 17/35 was extended north into Tampa Bay; the first scheduled jets were Northwest Airlines Boeing 720Bs from Chicago in late 1961 (the 1961 Aviation Week directory says PIE's longest runways were 5,700 feet, but it appears 17/35 was 8,000 feet when the 720B arrived). The increased capacities of Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 jets prompted the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to approve consolidation of airline service for the Tampa Bay area at TPA in the early 1960s.
In 1963, Northwest was flying Lockheed L-188 Electra propjet service Miami–Fort Lauderdale–St. Petersburg–Atlanta–Chicago O'Hare–Minneapolis/St. Paul–Fargo, ND–Grand Forks, ND–Winnipeg, Canada.http://www.timetableimages.com , March 1, 1963, Northwest Airlines timetable Eastern was the last scheduled airline at PIE during the mid-1960s and it ended flights from the airport in 1964. The year before, Eastern had been operating prop flights from St. Petersburg nonstop to Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare Airport, Cleveland and Louisville as well as direct one-stop service to Columbus, OH, Detroit and Indianapolis.http://www.timetableimages.com , July 1, 1963 Eastern Air Lines timetable
Scheduled air service returned to PIE in 1972, when Air Florida began intrastate airline flights to Miami and Orlando with Boeing 707s.http://www.timetableimages.com , Sept. 27, 1972 Air Florida timetable Air Florida replaced its 707s with Lockheed L-188 Electras out of PIE, and in 1974 was flying nonstop to Miami, Orlando and Tallahassee.http://www.departedflights.com , April 14, 1974 Air Florida route map According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), only one airline was serving St. Petersburg in the fall of 1979: regional air carrier Red Carpet Airlines operating Convair 440 prop aircraft five days a week nonstop from Miami and two days a week nonstop from Grand Cayman in the Caribbean.http://www.departedflights.com , Nov. 15, 1985, Official Airline Guide, Saint Petersburg flight schedules According to the OAG, by 1981 the airport still had only one air carrier operating scheduled passenger service: commuter airline Sun Air operating small Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante turboprops with one weekday nonstop flight from Miami as well as one weekday nonstop flight from nearby Tampa.http://www.departedflights.com , April 1, 1981, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Saint Petersburg flight schedules
Jet service returned in 1982 with Northeastern International Airways flying Douglas DC-8 nonstop flights to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, New York. By 1983, Northeastern was flying Boeing 727-100 nonstop flights to Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans, in addition to its nonstop service to Islip.http://www.departedflights.com , July 1, 1983, Official Airline Guide, Fort Lauderdale & New Orleans flight schedules Also in 1983, People Express was flying nonstop to New York/Newark Liberty International Airport with Boeing 727-200s, 737-100s and 737-200s. Locally based regional air carrier Atlantic Gulf Airlines was flying Vickers Viscount turboprops nonstop to Miami in 1983, and by 1984 was operating Convair 580 turboprops to Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Tallahassee.http://www.departedflights.com , early 1984 Atlantic Gulf Airlines route map & timetable By 1984, Northeastern had added nonstop West Palm Beach jet flights as well as direct jet flights to Hartford/Springfield, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, San Diego and Tulsa.http://www.departedflights.com , May 1, 1984, Northeastern International Airlines timetable People Express then expanded its flights from the airport, and in 1985 was flying nonstop to Charlotte and New York/Newark as well as operating direct, no change of plane jet service to Boston, Detroit and Syracuse.http://www.departedflights.com , June 26, 1985, People Express timetable Also in 1985, Florida Express British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets were serving PIE with four daily nonstops to its Orlando hub with direct flights to Columbus, OH, Fort Lauderdale, Indianapolis and Nashville via Orlando.http://www.departedflights.com , Nov. 15, 1985, Florida Express timetable In 1987, American Airlines initiated nonstop mainline jet flights to its Raleigh-Durham hub while Midway Airlines (1976-1991) commenced nonstop Boeing 737-200 jet flights in 1988 from its Chicago Midway Airport hub with direct one stop service from Cleveland;Dec. 1, 1988, OAG Pocket Flight Guide, North American Edition, Tampa/St. Petersburg flight schedules however, by October 1989 PIE once again had no scheduled airline service.