Orlando Intl Soars To No. 1; TIA 4th

7628 Views 53 Replies 21 Participants Last post by jzquince69, Jun 5, 2008

Jasonhouse

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2005

Orlando Soars To No. 1; TIA 4th

By TED JACKOVICS [email protected]
Published: Apr 8, 2005

TAMPA - Orlando International Airport surpassed Miami International Airport as Florida's busiest in 2004, and Tampa International Airport remained No. 4 with 8.7 million departing passengers.
Four of the state's top five airports, with the exception of Miami, posted double-digit growth in passenger departures in 2004 compared with the previous year, Florida Department of Transportation data show.

The continued surge in passenger travel could augment revenue for Tampa International, which ranks 29th nationally in passenger traffic.

Tampa International concession revenue rose from $36 million in February 2004 to $37.7 million in February 2005, the most recent period data are available. That is 26.8 percent higher than $29.8 million in February 2002, a period the post-terrorism travel recovery began.

``The airport depends on concessions for 70 percent of its annual operating revenue,'' said Louis Miller, Tampa International's executive director. That leaves 30 percent from airlines and other sources.

Robust concession sales keep landing fees and airport rental space inexpensive, inducing airlines to increase service in Tampa, Miller said.

Airport officials expect additional discussions with German carrier Lufthansa about serving Tampa, George Elbe, director of air service development, reported.

In recent weeks, airport officials have met with Taca Airlines in San Salvador and US Airways in Washington. Financially troubled US Airways has said it would maintain its schedule of 27 daily departures.

Miller also said Thursday the airport hoped to spur new jobs at Delta Air Lines' maintenance hangar, where 300 of 350 positions will be transferred, mainly to Atlanta. The airport continues to pursue tenants for the hangar US Airways abandoned in 2002.

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport ranked 10th statewide in passenger departures in 2004 with 667,787.

Spokeswoman Michele Routh said she expects between 500,000 and 550,000 passengers overall in 2005.

The airport will have lost three airlines between Nov. 30, when Southeast Airlines ceased operations, and Sunday, when ATA pulls out. Canadian carrier Jetsgo stopped service March 12.

That leaves the Pinellas airport with two major carriers: USA3000, which increased business 57 percent from 17,012 passengers in January 2004 to 20,306 passengers in January 2005; and newcomer Hooters Air.

Last month fledgling carrier Lehigh Valley Air began flying the Pinellas-Allentown, Pa., route, one of those Southeast abandoned. On Thursday, Hooters Air said it would take over the Lehigh Valley flights.

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Jasonhouse

Discussion Starter · #2 · Apr 8, 2005

Man, it's really a shame that Pinellas County didn't blow $240m on its airport, like some folks wanted. Look at the record traffic they're getting!

Also, I didn't realize that Orlando's airport has grown to be ahead of Miami's, and that FTL is ahead of Tampa. It seems like TIA is always reportedly growing faster than average or whatever, but it never seems to show up in the rankings.

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matttampa

· #3 · Apr 8, 2005

TIA and FLL are almost neck to neck in total passengers though. They are both around 17-18 million. Those numbers are nothing to sneeze at! Once Airside C opens, and Southwest gets more gates, watch those numbers really go up!

MIAballinboi

· #4 · Apr 9, 2005

Ft Lauds #s are skyrocketing cuz of how much cheaper it is to use that airport instead of MIA,

and mia is undergoing this multi-billion dollar plan, well at least it might get alot of latin american and international flights, but fll has been alot cheaper than mia,

even me who i live like 10 mins from mia, would drive an extra half hour to use fll,!

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SDK4

· #5 · Apr 9, 2005

Does anyone know where Sarasota- Bradenton Inter. and Southwest Florida Inter. ranked?

The Mad Hatter!!

· #6 · Apr 10, 2005

MIA is supposedly going to lower landing fees and lower certain fees in response to the lost of passengers and flights.and i think its become a pride thing for them to be surpassed by orlando and soon tia and ftl

matttampa

· #7 · Apr 10, 2005

Problem with FLL right now, is that they are at full capacity and are continuing to grow. They have no room to expand with the highways and train tracks boardering the airport. The FAA has also started to put a cap on flights into and out of FLL because of all the delays. Something like only 70% of all FLL flights leave on time. Almost up there with O'Hare. I see more domestic routes going into MIA since they have been underutilized, and they have a higher capacity. Even though ticket prices will be higher at MIA due to the more expensive landing fees. I wish FLL the best of luck during these times!

I used to fly out there all the time when I lived in Coral Springs many years ago.

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Jasonhouse

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 10, 2005

SDK4 said:
Does anyone know where Sarasota- Bradenton Inter. and Southwest Florida Inter. ranked?

Way down. Both are around like 2-3 million or something.

ChuckScraperMiami#1

· #9 · Apr 10, 2005 (Edited)

The Mad Hatter!! said:
MIA is supposedly going to lower landing fees and lower certain fees in response to the lost of passengers and flights.and i think its become a pride thing for them to be surpassed by orlando and soon tia and ftl

Yes, Mad Hatter

,and everyone else, your right

, everyone like us here working by the airport knows how M.i.a .is under construction now, in fact, the entrance to m.i.a. is a disaster under the largest capital development ever in history over a 2 billion makeover to attract the past passengers back to m.i.a. in about 5 years. When the 1 billion south terminal is completed with the almost completed 1 billion American airlines north terminal, m.i.a. will be the most futuristic airport in the nation, believe me everyone, i know,I work for miami-dade county, its almost over 5 billion total in improvements to bring back more passengers than ever before. a whole new rental car center and a new transportation system has already broken ground and is about 35 % completed, to be completed by 2011, it will be the central base of Tri-rail, Metro-rail, and the People Mover system to the airport, here's the F.D.O.T. website, www.MICDOT.com please check this out, you'll agree , Miami will make a comeback in about 5 - 6 years. :cheers:
p.s. I had to retype the website, please try it again, and see it.

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jzquince69

· #10 · Apr 11, 2005

MIA will never be surpassed by TPA or FTL in total passengers. They're holding at 31 million per year. MCO was at 31.1 million. MCO can't maintain that rate of growth from 2003-2004 again, but it will steadily continue to grow.

I don't know why the author of that article only lists departing passengers. Who cares? You gotta put the total numbers down--- TPA is at 17 million or so like matt stated.

FYI: O'Hare didn't have CTA trains at their terminal until the improvements they made in the late eighties. Unbelievable, isn't it.

MCO expansion: B/C of the new increase in traffic which got MCO's numbers up from the slump 9/11 caused 4 years ago, the South Terminal Complex is back on the books and will add a new landside terminal one mile south of the existing one connected by a tram (which has already been built) to the original terminal. It will add at least 16 gates initially to the 122 it already has.

If Lynx builds a train to connect MCO to the OCCC, it will be probably the most advanced and complete airport in Florida. If not, the MIA will be numero uno with the MIC and all... MIA's only problem is that it is landlocked, otherwise, it is quite a monster when you throw in cargo traffic. Either way, MCO will always be one of the most efficient major aiports in the world especially now that it built the 4th runway.

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SDK4

· #11 · Apr 12, 2005

Orlando is here to stay at the top. With the theme parks getting thousands of new vistors each year, it will be along time before Miami will get close again. Also if you look, Orlando is the lone major airport in central Florida. Tampa has Sarasota and Ft. Myers taking up passengers to the south, and Miami has Ft. Lauderdale. These satellite airports are growing at their own record paces and won't level off for some time either.

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jzquince69

· #12 · Apr 12, 2005

And if airports like DAB (daytona) continue to charge higher landing fees, you're right, SDK4, MCO will continue to gain passengers each year, and the DOTS service to shuttle people from Volusia County to MCO will continue to get good business.

I have a feeling though that MIA, once all these improvements are implemented, will continue an upward spike in passenger growth. Case in point: Detroit built a new massive terminal a few years back and their numbers have gone up from a few stagnant years of no growth. I think MCO and MIA will flip flop a few times the next few years for number 1.

FYI, I learned MCO is also expanding Airside 4 the next couple of years (the newer one) by lengthening the two concourses and adding some more gates.

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SDK4

· #13 · Apr 13, 2005

Miami will rebound as far as new passengers, but Orlando is experiancing such a tremendous growth in tourism, that MCO's passengers counts will skyrocket above everyone.

jzquince69

· #14 · Apr 14, 2005

I'd like to see that, b/c it will justify the new terminal. But i'd like to see that moreso to see how close its numbers can come to McCarren Intl.'s numbers, since both airports are the leading tourism based airports in the U.S.

Jasonhouse

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 14, 2005

^Vegas should pretty much be ahead of Orlando so long as Las Vegas continues to grow, because Orlando is much more of a driver's destination that Las Vegas, due to simple goegraphy.

jzquince69

· #16 · Apr 15, 2005

not to mention the fact that those major casino companies like Wynn and the like offer the cheapest rooms possible in 3 and 4 star hotels and the airlines offer fairly cheap ticket prices just to get our wallets over there. However, if 9/11 didn't happen, MCO was really close to McCarren's numbers and could have kept pace-- but you're right regarding the driver's destination factor.

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drjnieto

· #17 · Jun 22, 2007

Is it OIA or MCO, what is the difference. Which one is right.

INFLA1

· #18 · Jun 23, 2007

Jasonhouse said:
Way down. Both are around like 2-3 million or something.

Southwest Florida Intl? 2 million? Maybe SRQ is at 2,000,000 but RSW has gotten over 7,000,000 and will most likely reach 8,000,000 this year. RSW has posted record months ofr the past 10 consecutive months and has gone to surpass PBI int total passenger count. These are total passengers, not just departing. Departing passengers from RSW are about 3.5 million. I believe the ranking is:
#1- Orlando
#2- Miami
#3- Ft. Lauderdale
#4- Tampa
#5- Ft. Myers
Not sure how JAX, SRQ, and PBI rank but I am pretty sure about the top five

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INFLA1

· #19 · Jun 23, 2007

Here are the numbers I found for the year 2006:
#1 Orlando (34,759,000) traffic up from 2005
#2 Miami (32,533,974) traffic up from 2005
#3 Ft. Lauderdale (19,443,758) traffic down from 2005
#4 Tampa (18,867,541) traffic down from 2005
#5 Ft. Myers (7,643,217) traffic up from 2005
#6 West Palm Beach (6,824,789) traffic down from 2005
#7 Jacksonville (5,946,188) traffic up from 2005
#8 Pensacola (1,597,502) 2005's numbers. 2006 wasn't available.
#9 Sarasota (1,079,815) traffic up from 2005
#10 Key West (couldn't find numbers, but I believe this would be ranked tenth

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jzquince69

· #20 · Jun 23, 2007

INFLA1 said:
Here are the numbers I found for the year 2006:
#1 Orlando (34,759,000) traffic up from 2005
#2 Miami (32,533,974) traffic up from 2005
#3 Ft. Lauderdale (19,443,758) traffic down from 2005
#4 Tampa (18,867,541) traffic down from 2005
#5 Ft. Myers (7,643,217) traffic up from 2005
#6 West Palm Beach (6,824,789) traffic down from 2005
#7 Jacksonville (5,946,188) traffic up from 2005
#8 Pensacola (1,597,502) 2005's numbers. 2006 wasn't available.
#9 Sarasota (1,079,815) traffic up from 2005
#10 Key West (couldn't find numbers, but I believe this would be ranked tenth

OSI (Orlando-Sanford Intl.) had 1,645,989 in 2006, which puts it at #8. traffic down from 2005.

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