Tampa International wins best large airport award for third straight year

Tampa International Airport has landed another trio of national travel awards, winning Best Large Airport for the third consecutive year in USA Today’s annual 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.

The airport also repeated as Best Airport for Dining and Best Airport for Art in the newspaper’s awards. An expert panel nominated 10 large airports before readers selected the winner during a month of voting, the airport announced Wednesday.

Two airport restaurants earned separate recognition: Cigar City Brewing placed among the top 10 airport sit-down restaurants, while Bavaro’s Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria was honored in the grab-and-go food category.

The wins highlight a concessions lineup featuring multiple Tampa Bay-born businesses, including Columbia Restaurant, Ulele, Goody Goody and Café by Mise en Place.

The airport’s second consecutive art award recognizes a collection that includes “HOME,” Matthew Mazzotta’s 21-foot-tall flamingo sculpture known on social media as Phoebe. Other installations include Christopher Still’s “Final Boarding Call” at Airside C and Nick Cave’s “Palimpsest” in the Rental Car Center. Three newer works near the Red Express Curbsides have recently been added to the collection. 

The reader awards follow Tampa International’s first-place finish among large airports in J.D. Power’s 2026 North America Airport Satisfaction Study, released Sept. 16. Tampa scored 715 out of 1,000 points, ahead of Portland International Airport at 708 and Dallas Love Field at 698.

It was Tampa’s third time leading the study’s large-airport category, which covers facilities handling 10 million to 32.9 million passengers annually. The airport also finished first in 2022 and 2023 before placing second in 2024 and 2025, the release says.

The awards come as Tampa International moves forward with a major expansion. Its approximately $1.53 billion Airside D addition will add a 16-gate terminal serving international and domestic flights, with new shopping, dining and two airline lounges. Construction is scheduled for completion in late 2028, with the terminal opening to passengers in 2029.

The project is designed to help the airport accommodate up to 35 million annual passengers by 2037, according to Tampa International’s development plans.