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Tampa International Airport (IATA: TPA, ICAO: KTPA, FAA LID: TPA) is a public airport located six miles (10 km) west of the central business district of Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. This airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. It serves the Tampa Bay Area and has been widely praised for its attractive architecture and hassle-free design. The airport was known as Drew Field Municipal Airport until 1950.

Tampa International Airport's Landside/Airside terminal was the first of its type in the world. There is a central Landside Terminal where baggage and ticketing functions take place. The Landside Terminal is surrounded by four Airside satellites where airliner embarkment and disembarkment occur. Each Airside is connected to the Landside Terminal via an elevated automated people mover (APM) system which employs 16 Bombardier CX-100 Shuttle Cars. TPA was the first airport in the world to deploy a fully automated, driverless people mover system and is host to Bombardier Transportation’s longest-running APM system ever in history. The terminal was originally designed to limit the walking distance between the automobile and airliner to 700 feet; today, it has increased to about 1,000 feet, due mostly in part to the larger, more modern airside buildings which have replaced the original, smaller structures. The future of the Airport is certain to see continued growth and success. Many plans have been set in motion to expand as the Tampa Bay area continues to thrive.

Airport conveniences, that are free of charge, include passenger paging, wireless internet access, cell phone waiting lot with flight information, first hour terminal parking, shuttle service from the economy garage, real-time flight information and travelers aid services. Other services include eateries located before passenger checkpoints, touch screen information kiosks, information about local events, outdoor smoking areas and more.

The Landside Terminal was designed with convenience in mind. Express elevators and escalators keep passenger traffic moving smoothly, with few bottlenecks. Level 1 (Baggage Claim) contains all inbound baggage facilities and baggage belts. The Blue Rental Car facility was relocated from its crammed Bag Claim location, to a consolidated facility beneath the long term parking garage in 2002. On November 15, 2006 a new Red Rental Car facility and garage opened adjacent to the Marriott Hotel. A full-scale baggage claim renovation is planned for 2008/2009/2010.

Level 2 (Ticketing) contains all ticketing/check-in functions. The level also boasts a Charter desk reserved for flights that do not normally utilize TPA. The area received a major renovation/expansion in 2002 and may see another round of expansion in the 2010s due to increasing passenger traffic and future airline additions.

Level 3 (Transfer Level) includes the airside shuttle stations, and a shopping area known as the Airport Galleria. Along with the shopping facilities located adjacent to the main terminal in the Marriott Hotel, Tampa's airport has shopping facilities for everyone. While small with larger metropolitan airports, Tampa's facilities are almost entirely housed in the public access main terminal. The facilities are mostly operated and run by three airport retail companies - HMS Host, Stellar Partners, and Bay Area Concessions.

There are two food courts on level 3, operating on opposite sides of the building. The Galleria also features the most profitable TGI Friday's in the country, as well as some unexpected shopping attractions, such as the Ron Jon Surf Shop. there is also an outdoor smoking/observation patio located where the Airside B shuttle bay once stood.

Level 3 received a major renovation in 1997 and shuttle bay expansions in 1986 (for Airside F), 1994 (for Airside A), 2001 (for Airside E), and 2004 (for Airside C). A bay relocation in 2008/2009/2010 for Airside E shuttle area (due to increasing congestion). A light rail station will also be added sometime in 2013/2014/2015 to the former Airside B shuttle lobby (now the observation deck) if plans go through. Airside D's shuttle bay probably will not see any drastic changes in the near future, as the airside will not be rebuilt right away. Instead, the airport will first focus on building its second terminal, just to the north of the existing complex. However, Airside D will be rebuilt down the road if it is needed.

Levels 4-9 of the Landside Terminal Building house the short term parking garage. The garage was built with the airport complex in 1971 for added passenger convenience. Originally three levels, the garage was expanded in 1982 to six levels and contains 3,500 spaces.

Long term parking was originally a large lot sitting on what is today, the present-day long term parking garage. The garage was built in several phases from 1990 to 1997 after increased passenger traffic swamped the parking lot beyond capacity. A monorail (situated on Level Five of the garage) connects passengers to and from the short term parking garage (Level Five) and the Landside Terminal. The garage can hold a total of 7,400 spaces on six levels.

On November 1, 2005 phase I of the garage opened to the public and then on May 19, 2006 phase II opened. The garage is 5,600 spaces large and is divided into two color-coded sections - purple and gold (yellow). There is also a surface lot and overflow lot for use during the holidays. A free shuttle service takes passengers to the terminal drop-off twenty-four hours a day.

In an effort to decrease congestion within the Landside Terminal, particularly the baggage claim areas, a cell phone waiting lot was built alongside one of the remote overflow lots. It includes a large four panel flight status board, showing up-to-the-minute arrival information. This allows awaiting family members and friends of arriving passengers to wait in their vehicles until the passenger calls. Then the arriving passenger(s) can be picked up curbside at the Landside Terminal without creating curbside congestion problems. The lot has portable bathrooms, WiFi, recorded CCTV surveillance and around-the-clock police patrols.

Monorail was installed in 1991 when the new long term parking garage was built and opened on December 16. It was the first of its kind in the world to include six driverless, electrically propelled cars that are completely computer controlled. The system was also the first to have active switches and it is monitored from the airport's communications center. There are four long term stations. Monorail circles the long term parking garage and connects to the short term garage via an elevated bridge to stop at four additional stations. Monorail is free to use and runs twenty-four hours a day except for a once-a-week maintenance shut-down in the overnight hours. Bombardier Transportation maintains the system by contract and the Aviation Authority owns it.

Today, there are four active airsides (A, C, E and F) with over 60 gates. All of the active airsides are modern, state-of-the-art, facilities; constructed after 1985. All the airsides include a food court and gift shop. They include outdoor smoking patios that are strategically placed.