Airports Serving St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg travelers fly airlines from St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) or Tampa International Airport (TPA), while downtown Albert Whitted Airport handles private and training flights only.

There are no commercial airline services at Albert Whitted, and the City of St. Petersburg airport office points airline travelers to PIE at (727) 453-7800 or Tampa International at (813) 870-8700 (City of St. Petersburg).

PIE is located on State Route 686 (Roosevelt Blvd.) 4 miles north of St. Petersburg (PIE Directions). Its contact page lists Suite 221 at 14700 Terminal Boulevard and the airport information line 727-453-7800 (PIE Contact Us). Tampa International sits on the far side of Tampa Bay at 4100 George J. Bean Pkwy, and its website is published by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (Tampa International Airport). The TPA airport directory lists Airport Information at (813) 870-8700 (TPA Contact Us).

The practical split for a St. Pete household: PIE is the nearby Pinellas option with value-conscious airlines and $12.00 economy parking, Tampa International sits across the bay, and Albert Whitted is where a private pilot, a sightseeing flight or a medical transport lands next to downtown.

St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is a Pinellas County airport whose airlines fly nonstop to and from over 60 cities on value-conscious airlines, plus international and charter routes.

The carriers on the PIE airline list are Allegiant, Sun Country and the Bermuda airline BermudAir, with charter packages to the Beau Rivage Casino in Gulfport-Biloxi and the Borgata in Atlantic City (PIE Airlines and Destinations).

The PIE site covers 2,000 acres, holds 2 runways and is home to the busiest Coast Guard Air Station in the world (PIE History). The entire tract is a Foreign Trade Zone, and the FAA control tower and U.S. Customs both operate on the Pinellas field.

The Pinellas field began as a World War II base. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Pinellas Army Airfield was built on the present site as a military flight training base, and after the war the U.S. Government gave the airport property to Pinellas County to run as a commercial airport. The original terminal was dedicated in 1957, and the airport shortened its name to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport in 2013 (PIE History).

The St. Petersburg tie to aviation is on display inside PIE. On January 1, 1914, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line sold the first ticket for air travel to a fare paying passenger, and a replica of the Benoist amphibious airplane flown on that inaugural flight hangs in PIE baggage claim (PIE History).

Economy parking costs $12.00 per day at PIE and up to $22 per 24 hours at Tampa International, the cheapest posted options for a St. Petersburg traveler as of October 15, 2026.

Economy Parking at PIE is $12.00 per day, Long Term Parking tops out at a $16.00 daily maximum, and Short Term Parking tops out at $25.00, with an overnight stay in Short Term billed at the daily rate (PIE Parking). PIE does not have a reservation system, so parking is first come, first serve, and Long Term fills up regularly.

PIE economy lots open 2 hours before the first departure of the day and close 1 hour after the last flight arrives. Key Lime Economy takes cash, credit and debit cards, while the Strawberry Economy Lot takes cards only, and a $30 ticket and a tow await anyone who leaves a car unattended in the PIE cell phone lot (PIE Parking).

At Tampa International, across Tampa Bay, the posted maximum charge is $32 per 24 hours in the Short Term Garage, $26 in the Long Term Garage and $22 in Economy, tax included, and the maximum length of parking at any TPA facility is 45 days (Tampa International Airport Parking). For St. Petersburg drivers, the Tampa International Economy garage links to the Main Terminal by the SkyConnect train, and TPA offers free electric vehicle charging at most of its parking facilities.

For a week away from St. Petersburg, the posted numbers favor PIE economy: seven days at $12.00 per day is $84.00, against up to $154 at the $22 TPA economy maximum.

Travelers heading from St. Petersburg to PIE without a car use ride share, taxis or hotel shuttles, all of which load at marked spots by the PIE terminal and baggage claim.

Ride share drivers drop off at Departures and pick up at Arrivals in front of the terminal, and they wait in the PIE Cell Phone Lot between trips. Taxi and shuttle services are outside baggage claim in the Ground Transportation lot, and United Taxi and Yellow Cab answer at (727) 777-7777 (PIE Transportation Services).

The Grouper Airport Express, booked through PSTA, runs low cost rides between PIE and any location on Clearwater Beach, with fares that begin at $10 for single riders, $30 for a group of four and $40 for five to eight riders (PIE Transportation Services). That service covers Clearwater Beach, not St. Petersburg addresses.

Only active loading and unloading is allowed at the PIE terminal curb, and the cell phone lot next to the air traffic control tower has free Wi-Fi for tracking an arriving flight (PIE Parking). For drivers coming up from St. Petersburg, the PIE directions page notes that the Gateway Expressway Toll Road is now open (PIE Directions).

Albert Whitted Airport is the City of St. Petersburg general aviation airport on the downtown waterfront, used for private flying, flight training, sightseeing tours and medical transport rather than airline service.

The city lists fueling, storage, parking, maintenance, flight training, charter and rentals, avionics and sightseeing tours, and says the field also supports Civil Air Patrol, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and Bayflite Medivac and other medical transport services (City of St. Petersburg). There are no commercial airline services at Albert Whitted.

The Albert Whitted tower is staffed 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, and the fixed base operator, Sheltair Aviation (727-824-2880), handles fuel, hangars and tie downs from 0600 to 2100 in the Galbraith Terminal (City of St. Petersburg). A self service fuel pump on the north side of Taxiway C sells 100LL around the clock.

Non pilots use Albert Whitted too. Albert Whitted Park on the north side of the airport has observation areas and an aviation themed playground, the Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge (727-823-7767) overlooks the runway, and the Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society (727-822-1532) runs tours and the National Airlines Museum (City of St. Petersburg). Helicopter and biplane sightseeing flights leave from the field, and EAA Chapter 1602 and the Friends of Albert Whitted Airport co-sponsor days of free Young Eagles flights for children ages 8 to 17 at various times during the year.

PIE is rescoping its Terminal Improvement project and has prioritized a parking garage, while Albert Whitted adopted new rules and minimum standards in May 2026.

The airport is currently rescoping the Terminal Improvement project to meet budget and infrastructure priorities, PIE says, and the Parking Garage project was moved up its Capital Improvement Plan because of the immediate need for more parking (PIE Terminal Improvement Project). The planned work includes improvements to the existing terminal and a new expansion just north of baggage claim with jet bridges, and the design contract went to C&S Companies.

A dated note worth flagging: the PIE project page still says Terminal Improvement design work is expected to resume in the spring of 2026, and on October 15, 2026 it had not been updated with a new date, so the restart timing is unconfirmed. Until a garage opens, the PIE parking page warns that Long Term fills up regularly, so St. Petersburg travelers should plan on the Key Lime, Strawberry or Overflow economy lots and extra shuttle time (PIE Parking).

At Albert Whitted, the City of St. Petersburg posts Airport Rules and Regulations and General Aviation Minimum Standards adopted May 2026, an Airport Master Plan dated 2023 and a 2022 FDOT economic impact study of the field (City of St. Petersburg).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Tampa International Airport and City of St. Petersburg websites.