Verticalsim has recently released their rendition of Tampa International Airport (KTPA) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, serving the Tampa Bay Area in Florida with more than 93 non-stop destinations throughout the globe.

Tampa is known as the birthplace of commercial airline service, when a Benoist Flying Boat took off from St. Petersburg (Florida) to Tampa Airboat Line in early 1914, consecrating itself as the first scheduled commercial flight in the world. It was a 23-mile-long flight, and the service ran for about five months. The airport itself dates back to 1928, then called Drew Field. It was heavily used during WW2 for training, where it underwent modernization and expansion. 

Post-war, it went back to its original role of being just an airport, with its first international flights to begin a couple of years later, in 1950. A new terminal reached completion not long after, in 1952. A decade later, with the popularity of jet aircraft and many new airlines flying to Tampa, expansion became a priority, with the authorities planning a replacement terminal in an undeveloped site at the airport, whose production kicked off in 1968 and completion came three years later, increasing the capacity and consolidating Tampa as an important domestic and international destination. 

The airport collects several quality awards, including Best Overall U.S. Airport in 2007 and 2008 by Zagat Survey, Second Best Airport in the World by Condé Nas in 2008, and 6th place on CNN’s Ten of the World’s Most Loved Airports, and it’s considered by Airports Council International as the best airport in America for its size (2020).

With an average of 20 million passengers yearly, Tampa is served by most major domestic airlines, including Southwest (27.81% of the market share), Delta Air Lines (17.52% of the market share), American Airlines (16.89% of the market share), United Airlines (10.69% of the market share), and Spirit Airlines (10.03% of the market share). The top domestic destinations list includes Atlanta (925,000 passengers), Chicago-O’Hare (463,000), and Charlotte (450,000).

The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport as it currently stands, with an updated taxiway layout, animated passengers with “half-interior” airside and terminals, proper AI routing and vehicle pathing, realistic airline codes, custom taxi signs, custom airport lighting, a blend of custom and photorealistic imagery, animated HVAC fans, flags, and trams, handcrafted mesh with taxiway bridges, high-resolution color-graded imagery, surrounding area landmarks (Raymond James, International Plaza, Grand Hyatt, etc.).

It’s available on Verticalsim’s Shop for $21.99, requiring at least 4.12 GB of free disk space to install.

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