New routes to Boston, New York will launch in the fall from TPA

In spite of current circumstances, Tampa International Airport continues to serve as a vital hub for travel and commerce in the region and the state of Florida at large. It is also a source of levity — y’all seriously need to follow the airport on Twitter and Instagram. United has just announced it will be adding four new routes to key destinations in the Midwest and Northeast this fall. Those cities include Boston, New York, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Boston, New York – LaGuardia, and Cleveland will launch on United Airlines on November 6. Flights to Milwaukee will being on December 17.

Expanding to key destinations across the U.S.

“The addition of these new flights represents United’s largest expansion of point-to-point, non-hub flying and reflects our data driven approach to add capacity where customers are telling us they want to go,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s Vice President of Domestic Network Planning, in a release on TPA’s website. “We look forward to offering customers in the Midwest and Northeast more options to fly nonstop to Florida this winter.” 

Bookings are now available on United’s website.

TPA also unveiled new safety measures for staff and passengers. Included in these updates are E-gates. These gates allow ticketed passengers and cleared guests to gain access to the airside shuttle, replacing the current system that requires manual scanning.

TPA explains the process on its website: Passengers simply scan their boarding pass and the gates swing open. If they are at the wrong gate, they will receive an error message.

New electronic gates allow safe travel through the airport

E-gates allow TPA to go from two to four boarding pass scanning devices per airside, helping to speed up the process and making it faster for guests to get to their gate.

“This is a significant step in our efforts to go touchless and make the passenger experience better and faster than ever before,” said Doug Wycoff, TPA’s Senior Manager of Client and Field Services. “We know that this kind of technology – especially during a time of heightened concern over cleanliness – is critically important.”

The technology first debuted at the shuttle entrance to Airside A in mid-July and at Airside C in early August. Wycoff says to expect the screening gates at Airside E and F this November. So far, the Airside A gates have processed about 85,000 passengers and employees while the Airside C gates have handled 40,000.