Metro Orlando Airport News

[designspace]

The JFK Airtrain was only recently built (at least 40 years late) and I don't find it convenient at all. LGA has nothing and it is closest to the City. I did the Newark train a few months ago and it was OK but still pretty slow. The other cities mentioned might have great rail service but I have no experience with them.

Actually I find the JFK Airtrain totally convenient, and because of Airtrain now I purposely book all my flights out of JFK instead of LGA. Sure LGA is a quick cab to midtown, but it now takes $30 and I loathe the cab waiting line when arriving at a peak hour. Instead for $7 bucks, I consistently make it to JFK in an one hr, 20 min (door-to-door). No worries about traffic, no waiting in a line for a cab, one less car on the road (well, at least a car for somebody else to take), and $23+ bucks in my wallet.

[JRS1]

The Airtrain for JFK was literally built just a few years ago at a very high cost. It should have been built many many years ago and still it is not very convenient.

I agree about JFK. I ended up taking a $50 cab to Manhattan last year b/c of that. It's like going from landside at OIA to Sandlake and Conway Road to catch the train.

as for O'Hare, that "El" extension was a late '80's/early '90's phenomenon believe it or not. And the "El" extension to Midway is newer than that one is. O'Hare's modern terminal opened in 1963 and it took them, the rail capital, almost 30 years to link it with downtown. I guess the bottom line is that both airports are directly linked now, which is good.

However MARTA linked with Hartsfield quicker w/re to the life of that system.

[Go Gators]

OIA named 2nd best airport in US for layovers.

http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?...p;wa=wsignin1.0

[sunshine]

We could have a HSR line from OIA to downtown Tampa thru Disney....but......

[bic]

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Lufthansa will begin offering non-stop service from Orlando International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany this fall. The new service will connect Orlando to 58 new cities via one-stop service through the "world gateway."

Orlando Sentinel Article

[bic]

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Lufthansa will begin offering non-stop service from Orlando International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany this fall. The new service will connect Orlando to 58 new cities via one-stop service through the "world gateway."

Orlando Sentinel Article

[bic]

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Lufthansa will begin offering non-stop service from Orlando International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany this fall. The new service will connect Orlando to 58 new cities via one-stop service through the "world gateway."

Orlando Sentinel Article

[JRS1]

^^ isn't that amazing how that works. Siemans' purchasing X amount of seats per year to secure the deal. maybe this will springboard new companies to come to ORL and then this same type of deal might get more airline services. that is interesting stuff. Siemans.

[bic]

Yeah, without Siemens we wouldn't have gotten this Lufthansa route for a while. Now we have 3-class (!) service on one of the world's largest airlines to one of the world's most important airports. If this route turns out the be successful, I would expect to see Air France follow suit with non-stop service to CDG.

[sunshine]

Do we have an international flight terminal?

[Camillo Sitte]

Do we have an international flight terminal?

No - what we have is a half-assed basement FIS station in Terminal 4 that was completely inadequate ten years ago let alone today.

More than one airline [cough] Air France, Iberia, TAP [cough] have told MCO officials that they will not start service to Orlando under any circumstances until Orlando has a proper FIS facility that doesn

[bic]

Filling an A330 or A340 [x7] with 250-300 $499 fun-n-sun fares will guarantee LF pulling out of MCO within a year.

Just for the record, the flight will be 5x weekly with an A333 that will feature 165 M (economy), 48 C (business), and 8 F (first) class seats-- not exactly high capacity...though I'm sure once in a while during peak periods MCO will see an A343 or 744. The evening (off-peak) departure should mean lower airport fees and will be a nice alternative for transatlantic passengers. That Siemens contract helps to remove a lot of the risk involved in starting a route like this where most of the money is made from revenue seats in first and business class. The guarantee of filled C-class seats will make life a lot easier for Lufthansa.

Edited June 30, 2007 by bic

[Camillo Sitte]

Just for the record, the flight will be 5x weekly.

My understanding is that Condor [German Leisure airline owned by Lufthansa] will continue to operate x2, giving them, effectively, daily service to FRA.

[bic]

Sorta. Condor [DE] flies on Monday and Friday while the 2 days Lufthansa [LH] won't be flying on will be Monday and Saturday. So beginning October 30th Frankfurt will receive MCO service 6 days a week with 2 flights on Monday. While for now, Condor appears to be continuing service into next year, it seems likely that LH will replace DE's service with their own metal at some point.

Edited June 30, 2007 by bic

[WeNeed2Progress]

Isn't Lufthansa on the list to receive the Boeing 767 Dreamliner? I cannot wait to fly in one of those.

[bic]

Lufthansa has not yet ordered the 787 Dreamliner but was first to order the new 747-800 Intercontinental.

[JRS1]

^^

does MCO not see serving those airlines as being that profitable, so that's why they don't spend the $$$ to make those improvements?

[WeNeed2Progress]

Lufthansa has not yet ordered the 787 Dreamliner but was first to order the new 747-800 Intercontinental.

Sorry, yes, the 787... ahhh... so nice.

[corpkid]

No - what we have is a half-assed basement FIS station in Terminal 4 that was completely inadequate ten years ago let alone today.

More than one airline [cough] Air France, Iberia, TAP [cough] have told MCO officials that they will not start service to Orlando under any circumstances until Orlando has a proper FIS facility that doesn

[neon9]

I just got back from Europe and this was my first International flight into MCO. It sucked, BAD. I am a huge fanboi of MCO flying domestically very often and always finding it to be an above average airport that is pretty stress-free. International was a WHOLE different story. So you clear customs 1st (after waiting forever) then you get your bags. Then you clear customs declarations (e.g. No, I don't have any insects or snails in my luggage) and have to put your bags on another belt. Now, you go up the stairs (stairs, not an escalator) and get on the tram to the main terminal. You are all roped off so you can't wander about before or after getting off the tram (I knew the bags would take forever talking to other people, so I was going to go to the Outback and have a beer). Nope, proceed directly towards the tram, get off and follow the ropes to the ingress/egress of security. Pretty stupid and seemed 2nd rate for US airport (the having the ropes through the airport like that).

And the bags took forever to arrive from that second belt. I guess they are trucked over to the main terminal. Either way, with a 777 full and everyone w/ 2 bags, it was a very slow and aggravating experience. Considering how much international traffic we are doing, why is this not fixed?

That does sound pretty bad. I went a few months ago and flew through JFK which might be slightly more convenient but makes up for it by being nasty and old. The customs area (this was a Delta flight) was in the basement where nothing worked and the bathrooms looked like a nightclub after a rave. Then, got up to the actual terminal which didn't seem that bad on the way out, but with more time on the way back I noticed the birds (yes birds) flying around inside the building and the general nastiness of the place. All the employees looked like they were on drugs (hey that's fine on the street, but in an airport?). If they had half as many janitors as they had TSA officals in ill fitting suits the place might be a little nicer.

[bic]

Delta's international arrivals procedure at JFK is horrendous. I traveled through there on my way back from Europe in October and was appalled by the craptastic terminal and how slow customs was.

On the other hand, I got back from Israel on El Al about 2 weeks ago, arrived at JFK's Terminal 4, and was pleasantly surprised by how much more efficient the customs process was there. Aside from having to wait at most 2 minutes for passport control, it felt like I was arriving on a domestic flight. The international terminal is only a couple of years old, clean, and really puts the old Delta terminal to shame. My only complaint was the lack of food vendors and retail past the departures security checkpoint...there's really nothing except for a small Sbarro's and a newstand.

EDIT: Added picture of JFK's Delta terminal. Check out the condition of the paint on the ceiling:

Edited June 30, 2007 by bic

[neon9]

Delta's international arrivals procedure at JFK is horrendous. I traveled through there on my way back from Europe in October and was appalled by the craptastic terminal and how slow customs was.

Excellent pic (well, good job finding it anyway!)

That is exactly what I'm talking about. This is what new visitors to our country see?!?

The old terminal at CDG (Paris) is from the 70's and looks it, but at least it was clean!

Edited June 30, 2007 by neon9

[bic]

That's a picture I took in October. But yeah, I was pretty ashamed by our nation's first impression on foreign visitors...especially since my flight just came from Amsterdam's incredible Schipol airport. It really felt third world.

Now back to Orlando...

[Camillo Sitte]

Delta's international arrivals procedure at JFK is horrendous. I traveled through there on my way back from Europe in October and was appalled by the craptastic terminal and how slow customs was.

Delta had a new international terminal designed for JFK several years ago. Just before they start construction we get 9/11 and Delta's declining fortunes/mismanagement.

DL management decided to scale down international operations at JFK and refocus most everything out of Atlanta. They have just recently started to add back international flights at JFK so perhaps they might be dusting of those old plans in the near future.

[Camillo Sitte]

^^

does MCO not see serving those airlines as being that profitable, so that's why they don't spend the $$$ to make those improvements?

As I said before - in giving "signatory status" to many of the airlines at MCO the GOAA has given them veto and go/no-go power in new construction since the airlines pay for most of any new construction projects themselves through bond guarantees, leases, and other fees.

Most of the signatory airlines are domestic carriers who have no interest in paying for a new international terminal that they will never use and the city's leadership lacks the vision and leadership to build and pay for the project on their own - at least as of now.

Philly got a new international terminal because USAir demanded it, San Francisco got a new international terminal because United demanded it, and Dallas a new international terminal because American demanded it.

MCO's largest international airline, Virgin Atlantic, is a largely low-cost carrier specializing in cheap vacation fares and is perfectly content with using current facilities which is more profitable to them than is building a new terminal. The problem is that what is good for Virgin is not good for other international carriers who need/require a higher level of infrastructure.