Great news for Orlando tourism as Orlando International Airport has revealed that they are nearing-record high traffic, with the airport fast approaching pre-pandemic levels.
Currently just under 44 million travelers are coming through Orlando International Airport and the numbers are still increasing.
These high travel numbers were last seen pre-pandemic, in early 2019, when the airport saw just over 44 million domestic travelers.
It's these high numbers of passengers that created the welcome need for the new Terminal C to be built, now with terminal opened and only one month into operations, airport officials have plans for further expansion over the next three years to accommodate an even bigger increase of travelers in the years to come.
The new terminal C currently handles international flights including operations for British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates, and Aer Lingus, but in the coming days, JetBlue will begin flying domestic flights out of Terminal C also.
With the welcome news of such high passenger numbers, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority voted on Wednesday to approve construction projects that had to be cut during the pandemic.
One of those projects will add four more gates to the terminal.
The projects will begin this month and conclude in 2025. In the meantime, the airport hopes to move more airlines over to the new terminal along with other projects to handle the new demand.
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) CEO Kevin Thibault said "We will also be bringing back other expansions like the pedestrian bridge that connects right into the train station or the improvements to allow aircraft to remain overnight,"
Airport executives said that travel numbers indicate a new record-high number of domestic travelers over the last 12 months.
Airport experts believe this is about more than just people wanting to travel to Orlando.
"We always have been and always will be a strong destination, but the original population is growing here," said Thibault. "People here are wanting to get out and travel boosting a lot of those numbers."
Once those new gates are added, OIA hopes to move about a half dozen airlines over to the new terminal. They believe the terminal will account for 20% of all their air traffic.
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