Metro Orlando Airport News

[HankStrong]

I used it on a business trip several weeks ago.  It was just fine and my bag arrived.

[codypet]

That's kind of awesome.  How does that work?  They must truck it to the other terminal.

[spenser1058]

A decade-long look back at growth for MCO:

Orlando airport bursting with more flights, passengers and foreign destinations
http://bit.ly/2P4Oylq

Airport director Phil Brown also predicts we'll end up with 47 million passengers for the year.

Everybody sing: "If You Had Wings, If You Had Wings..."

From the Sentinel

From YouTube

Edited August 13, 2018 by spenser1058

[shardoon]

We are actually on pace to break 48 million passengers this calander year. If the trend continues, next year will easily move into the low 50's.

[gibby]

When is the earliest that any of the new terminal gates will be ready?

[shardoon]

First phase will be open 2021 with 19 gates. At that point, capacity will be increased to "over 50 million" according to their press release. Based on current trend, we will be well over 50 million for 2019. By 2021, we could be pushing closer to 60 million. At this point, it may not be a bad idea to consider starting phase 2 before the first phase is even completed. All I see down the road is Star Wars land, the 4th gate for Universal, Disney 50th anniversary, Epcot redesign, Tron ride, etc etc. 

[codypet]

^That's the plan.

[spenser1058]

Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy announces federal support for SFB improvements. Perhaps more interesting is that Sanford has nearly doubled its passenger count since 2011 to 3 million.

http://orlando-politics.com/2018/08/14/murphy-announces-4-2-million-federal-investment-in-orlando-sanford-international-airport-to-support-growth/

From Orlando Politics

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy announces federal support for SFB improvements. Perhaps more interesting is that Sanford has nearly doubled its passenger count since 2011 to 3 million.

http://orlando-politics.com/2018/08/14/murphy-announces-4-2-million-federal-investment-in-orlando-sanford-international-airport-to-support-growth/

From Orlando Politics

does SFB really employ 23,000 people per that article?  Without doing google research, that's gotta be a typo.

[spenser1058]

11 minutes ago, jrs2 said:

does SFB really employ 23,000 people per that article?  Without doing google research, that's gotta be a typo.

I was wondering about that, too. Must be the world's largest Burger King in the food court!

[HankStrong]

23k is insane and I'm guessing impossible.

SFB growing and MCO growing are both excellent things for the area.  Winning!

[IAmFloridaBorn]

Question. How Important is Sanford Airport to Orlando?
Also Daytona Beach International to Orlando?
 

What if we could get SunRail to Service all 3 airports in the area?

[Urban Mail Carrier]

I suggested that earlier. It makes to much sense.  CSX tracks already run around the perimeter of MCO. They also run on the south side of SFB. In fact those SFB tracks are offered to Sunrail for $10!! They connect to the main Sunrail north and south bound tracks at Sanford station  and end in Winter Springs by 419/434 intersection. To connect all 3 airports new tracks need to be placed northbound from Sanford probably by route 415. Also tracks need to placed from Winter Springs to connect towards MCO. Coincidentally the tracks that run MCOs perimeter terminate in the Avalon Park area. If u look at the map u will see that UCF main sits in between SFB and MCO. I believe it will be a successful line because of the 3 airports and UCF on that new line. 

[WAJAS]

1 hour ago, Urban Mail Carrier said:

I suggested that earlier. It makes to much sense.  CSX tracks already run around the perimeter of MCO. They also run on the south side of SFB. In fact those SFB tracks are offered to Sunrail for $10!! They connect to the main Sunrail north and south bound tracks at Sanford station  and end in Winter Springs by 419/434 intersection. To connect all 3 airports new tracks need to be placed northbound from Sanford probably by route 415. Also tracks need to placed from Winter Springs to connect towards MCO. Coincidentally the tracks that run MCOs perimeter terminate in the Avalon Park area. If u look at the map u will see that UCF main sits in between SFB and MCO. I believe it will be a successful line because of the 3 airports and UCF on that new line. 

SFB gets very very little traffic compared to MCP. I don’t think a SunRail link to it will get anywhere close to the ridership necessary for it to be worth the cost. Also remember, SunRail is commuter rail with stations many miles apart outside of downtown.  It isn’t necessarily meant to serve other destinations like the airport. Look at Salt Lake City. They have the FrontRunner (like SunRail) that goes throughout their whole metro region. In the more dense areas, light rail lines run to serve the destinations not served by commuters. In some places the light rail even parallels FrontRunner.  The only difference between the FrontRunner and Sunrail is that FrontRunner runs on Saturdays.

[Urban Mail Carrier]

Probably would be super expensive as well. SFB does have a long way to go. But on a positive note they have doubled their passenger traffic and Seminole county is pushing for it. I don’t believe that this would be considered first over a link to MCO or I-Drive. We’ll see where this goes. 

[aent]

37 minutes ago, WAJAS98 said:

SFB gets very very little traffic compared to MCP. I don’t think a SunRail link to it will get anywhere close to the ridership necessary for it to be worth the cost.

Exactly. And to be quite honest, I'm not sure I want massive growth at SFB, I personally quite like the number of options at MCO, and if they're split up, it makes other transit more complicated. MCO seems to run fairly efficiently every time I've been through it.

[Urban Mail Carrier]

Don’t remember where I read this, but it has been predicted that Orlando will make it to 100 million visitors by 2030 or 2045. I wonder if they foresee SFB and Daytona International handling some of this traffic. It seems to me that , at least from my laman knowledge, that connecting the 3 airports makes sense. There may not enough traffic at this moment but in the not so distant future we will be busting at the seams.

[aent]

1 minute ago, Urban Mail Carrier said:

Don’t remember where I read this, but it has been predicted that Orlando will make it to 100 million visitors by 2030 or 2045. I wonder if they foresee SFB and Daytona International handling some of this traffic. It seems to me that , at least from my laman knowledge, that connecting the 3 airports makes sense. There may not enough traffic at this moment but in the not so distant future we will be busting at the seams.

I believe thats from the south terminal report for MCO... and when completed, the south terminal is supposed to handle that.

[jrs2]

DAB will continue to grow as it's tourism grows, but, I think SFB stunted any meaningful growth at DAB as an MCO option for the region.  SFB still brings in international visitors, although Allegiant has dominated its numbers the past several years with domestic air travel.  Does MCO need SFB?  I don't think so, so long as value carriers such as Spirit offer off the beaten path direct destinations that used to be handled by Allegiant.

I don't see a track mirroring SR 415 to Daytona because the entire corridor is developed (rurally; albeit) and that would cost too much $$$.  The track to DB would have to exit Deland somewhere north of their downtown- or using a spur that goes to their downtown...dunno.

MCO would rather see air travelers waiting in long lines and paying into it's operating costs than to operate more efficiently by having some of that traffic diverted to SFB and DAB, IMO.

[spenser1058]

Let's also not forget our #4 international airport, MLB. It offers Delta and American flights as well as a couple of smaller Canadian carriers.

[Urban Mail Carrier]

I know we are just speculating but I don’t see a spur connecting to downtown Deland from a Sunrail line on 415 especially since one already exists on the original Sunrail line. It would probably be better to connect the DAB stationand it’s immediate area to the Downtown Deland station via Votran.  In part the reason a Sunrail line on 415 seems feasible to me is because of the inexpensive land in that part of Seminole and Volusia counties. 

The Orlando Melbourne International airport can probably be connected with a dedicated bus route from MLB to a hypothetical Sunrail  St Cloud station. Which then goes on to Lake Nona Station and then on to MCO. 

Edited August 20, 2018 by Urban Mail Carrier

[jrs2]

Here's more of what I think on this connectivity issue:

MCO won't connect to another airport before it connects to Port Canaveral.  PC can "feed" MCO with passengers; SFB and MLB only take passengers away.  Same with DAB.  But, if BL begins operating and Brevard gets the shaft b/c of no station (proposed or vision), and Sunrail Phase 3 gets built and the $10 spur in Sanford gets absorbed by FDOT, then, I'll be wrong.  

I think BL is key.  If the ridership is what they project, then that can sway support for a Sunrail airport link.  At that point, Seminole may push hard for an SFB Sunrail link too, b/c SFB can be marketed also to BL tourists or riders.  BL is a feeder system...I believe it is key to all of this.

[spenser1058]

Frontier plans to have 54 non stop routes in service at MCO by this winter - more than any other airline. Who knew?

http://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2018/09/12/frontier-airlines-launches-new-routes-from-orlando

From News 13

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Frontier plans to have 54 non stop routes in service at MCO by this winter - more than any other airline. Who knew?

http://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2018/09/12/frontier-airlines-launches-new-routes-from-orlando

From News 13

Huh...this was in the thumbnails from a week ago:

http://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2018/08/31/sunrail-considers-expanding-to-orlando-airport-as-brightline-gets-green-light

[WAJAS]

4 hours ago, jrs2 said:

Huh...this was in the thumbnails from a week ago:

http://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2018/08/31/sunrail-considers-expanding-to-orlando-airport-as-brightline-gets-green-light

Nothing new there. That's been the plan for a while now.

Edited September 14, 2018 by WAJAS98