TAMPA, Fla. — One week after the U.S. ended its COVID-19 travel ban involving 33 countries, Tampa International Airport is welcoming back its first international flight.
Last week, travelers from previously banned countries including Brazil, China, and the UK began flying to several major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. A few of those passengers took connecting flights to the Bay Area but for the most part, international travel resumed in Tampa on Monday.
The first flight back, a British Airways flight, is scheduled to land just after 5 p.m. and will be marked with a small celebration.
These travel restrictions kept families apart and those with second homes here in Florida away from the lives they’d worked their entire career for.
Marilyn Baines was on the first direct flight from England to Orlando last week. She said the feeling of finally seeing her friends and her home again took her breath away.
“We were just welcomed on board and there were cheers and clapping,” she said. “The captain made an announcement and the first officer did the same, it was just such a lovely feeling to know we were welcomed back to our second homeland.”
She says they too were greeted with a celebration at the airport.
A number of International carriers will be resuming their nonstop service to Tampa in the coming weeks.