Airports Serving St. Petersburg — St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg, situated on the southern Pinellas Peninsula in Pinellas County, is served by two airports operating under distinct ownership structures and serving distinct aviation functions. Albert Whitted Airport (FAA identifier KSPG) is a municipally owned general-aviation facility at the southeastern edge of downtown, managed under the City of St. Petersburg's administration. St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (IATA: PIE, ICAO: KPIE) is a commercial-service airport owned and operated by Pinellas County, located approximately nine miles north of downtown St. Petersburg near Pinellas Park.

The city holds a singular place in aviation history: on January 1, 1914, the world's first scheduled commercial passenger airline service using a fixed-wing aircraft departed from St. Petersburg, as documented by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. That legacy informs both airports' public identities today. According to the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023, St. Petersburg has a population of 260,646, and the peninsula's geography — bounded by Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and Boca Ciega Bay — reinforces the regional transportation importance of both facilities.

Albert Whitted Airport occupies a 110-acre waterfront parcel at 107 8th Ave SE on the southeastern edge of downtown St. Petersburg. According to the City of St. Petersburg's official website, the airport handles approximately 80,000 general-aviation aircraft operations annually and serves as home base to approximately 185 aircraft. The city provides fueling and other aviation services at the facility.

The Federal Aviation Administration has designated Albert Whitted as one of the nation's critical reliever airports — a classification for facilities that reduce congestion at commercial service hubs — a status noted by the Northeast Journal of St. Petersburg. Construction of the airport began in October 1928, and it was formally dedicated on February 25–26, 1929, according to the same source.

The airport is named for Lieutenant James Albert Whitted, USNR, documented by the Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society as one of the U.S. Navy's first 250 Naval Aviators. The Friends of Albert Whitted Airport (foawa.org) maintains active public programming around the airport's history and connection to the 1914 first commercial flight. The organization also administers the Tony Jannus Award, presented annually to recognize distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.

St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport is owned and operated by Pinellas County and is situated on the northeastern boundary of Pinellas Park, approximately nine miles north of downtown St. Petersburg. The airport's official history at fly2pie.com traces its origins to 1941, when the site was constructed as Pinellas Army Airfield, a military flight-training base established following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

By 2023, the airport had grown into a significant regional commercial facility, recording 2.49 million travelers — the highest annual total to that point — as reported by Bay News 9. The airport's planned terminal expansion adds four new gates with jet bridges, a centralized TSA checkpoint, and additional concessions. As of April 2024, airport director Tom Jewsbury stated that PIE generates an economic impact of more than $3 billion annually for the Tampa Bay region and supports over 20,000 jobs, as reported by WUSF Public Media.

The airport's baggage claim area displays a replica of the Benoist amphibious airplane used in the January 1, 1914 first commercial flight, reflecting the facility's identification with St. Petersburg as the, in the words of its own history page, 'birthplace of commercial air transportation.'

St. Petersburg's connection to aviation history centers on January 1, 1914, when pilot Antony Habersack Jannus — known as Tony Jannus — flew a Benoist XIV Air Boat biplane from St. Petersburg to Tampa, inaugurating the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line, the world's first scheduled commercial passenger airline service using a fixed-wing aircraft. The flight carried former mayor Abraham C. Pheil as the sole paying passenger, as documented by the Clearwater Historical Society.

According to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the flight covered approximately 18 miles (29 km) in 23 minutes, with a passenger fare of $5. The airline operated from January through May 1914. The Friends of Albert Whitted Airport notes that the Tony Jannus Award, named for the pilot, is presented annually to recognize distinguished contributions to commercial aviation.

Albert Whitted Airport itself has roots in the era immediately following this milestone. Construction began in October 1928, and the airport was dedicated in February 1929, as documented by the Northeast Journal. The Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society also documents an earlier facility, Sky Harbor Airport on Weedon Island, as part of St. Petersburg's pre-Whitted aviation landscape. The 1914 flight is commemorated at St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport through the Benoist replica displayed in its baggage claim area.

Pinellas County Commissioners approved a terminal expansion at St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport in May 2024. At the time of the announcement, the project was estimated at $110 million and included an application for $6 million in FAA funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support design work, as reported by WUSF Public Media and Bay News 9. By late 2024 and into 2025, the estimated project cost had risen to between $180 million and $220 million, according to the St. Pete Catalyst, reflecting continued state and federal funding commitments.

Against that construction backdrop, the airport set a single-month passenger record in July 2025, carrying 320,746 travelers — up from 295,268 in July 2024 — as reported by the Business Observer. The growth was driven in part by new Allegiant Air nonstop routes to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, among other destinations. The expansion project is designed to add four gates with jet bridges, a centralized TSA checkpoint, and expanded concessions, according to Bay News 9.

At the city level, Mayor Ken Welch's 2026 State of the City Address, published by the City of St. Petersburg, emphasized recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck in September and October 2024 respectively and generated 2.1 million cubic yards of debris across St. Petersburg. The storms did not directly alter airport operations as reported in reviewed sources, but the broader recovery context shapes the city's infrastructure priorities as of early 2026.

The Pinellas Peninsula's geography — a narrow land mass bounded by water on three sides — concentrates regional air access at a small number of points. Albert Whitted Airport and St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport together serve a peninsula that, as the City of St. Petersburg administers and Pinellas County owns respectively, has no direct passenger rail link to the broader Tampa Bay region. Surface access to PIE from downtown St. Petersburg is dependent on north–south arterials through Pinellas Park, while access to Tampa International Airport requires crossing one of the bay bridges — the Howard Frankland or Gandy bridges — adding travel time that positions PIE as a practical alternative for peninsula residents.

Tampa International Airport (TPA), operated by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority across Tampa Bay in Hillsborough County, is the region's primary hub for major carriers and international routes. PIE functions as a lower-cost complement, with Allegiant Air as a major carrier and nonstop leisure routes as its primary product. The two airports serve different segments of the regional aviation market, a distinction reflected in PIE's consistent growth in leisure-oriented traffic while TPA handles the region's largest airlines and connecting itineraries.

St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport's $3 billion annual regional economic impact figure, cited by airport director Tom Jewsbury in April 2024 as reported by WUSF Public Media, encompasses the broader Tampa Bay region rather than Pinellas County alone, underscoring the airport's role as a multi-county economic asset despite its Pinellas County ownership and governance.