St. Pete-Clearwater Airport Noise Should Ebb as Runway Construction Wraps

The air around St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport is about to get a little quieter.

After four months of rehabilitation work on its primary runway, the airport will reopen it on Friday. As a result, the airport’s normal noise abatement procedures, which had been suspended since work began in July, will resume.

During that time, all flights in and out of the airport had gone through its secondary runway, which runs east-west over some neighborhoods, said airport spokeswoman Michele Routh.

“Our primary runway runs north-south over the bay, so the idea is for flights to operate over the bay instead of over neighborhoods,” she said.

The $24.1 million project, funded in part through a $19.75 million Federal Aviation Administration grant, saw a slight delay due to Hurricane Eta, but has otherwise stayed relatively close to its schedule as passenger traffic has increased since a deep lull this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In November, 107,849 passengers passed through St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, a 38 percent decline from November 2019.

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