Orlando International Airport
Orlando International Airport is a major public airport located 6 miles southeast of Downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2019, it handled 50,613,072 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and tenth busiest airport in the United States. The airport code MCO stands for the airport's former name, McCoy Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command installation, that was closed in 1975 as part of a general military drawdown following the end of the Vietnam War.
The airport serves as a hub for Silver Airways, an operating base for JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines, as well as a focus city for Frontier Airlines. Southwest is the airport's largest carrier by passengers carried. The airport is also a major international gateway for the mid-Florida region, with over 850 daily flights on 44 airlines. The airport also serves 135 domestic and international destinations. At, MCO is one of the largest commercial airports in terms of land area in the United States. In addition, the airport is home to a maintenance base for United Airlines.
History
Military years
The airfield was originally constructed as a U.S. Army Air Forces facility and military operations began in 1942 as Orlando Army Air Field #2, an auxiliary airfield to Orlando Army Air Base, now known as Orlando Executive Airport. Orlando Army Air Field #2 was renamed Pinecastle Army Airfield in January 1943. At the end of World War II, Pinecastle was briefly used for unpowered glide tests of the Bell X-1 from B-29 aircraft before the program moved to Muroc Army Airfield in California– now Edwards AFB – for the world's first supersonic flight. With the establishment of an independent U.S. Air Force in 1947, the airfield was briefly placed in caretaker status, until being reactivated during the Korean War as a Strategic Air Command facility for B-47 Stratojets and KC-97 Stratofreighters and renamed Pinecastle AFB.In the 1950s, the base began hosting SAC's annual Bombing and Navigation Competition. A B-47 Stratojet crashed during the 1958 competition, killing Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy, commander of the 321st Bombardment Wing, which was the host wing for Pinecastle AFB. The following year the base was renamed for McCoy. The base later was home to the 306th Bombardment Wing operating the B-52 Stratofortress and the KC-135 Stratotanker. It was also used by EC-121 Warning Star early warning aircraft of the 966th Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron, a tenant unit at McCoy assigned to the Aerospace Defense Command.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, McCoy AFB became a temporary forward operating base for more than 120 F-100 Super Sabre and F-105 Thunderchief fighter bombers and the primary base for U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flying over Cuba. One of these U-2s was shot down by Soviet-operated SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missiles near Banes, Cuba. Its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr., USAF, was the crisis' only combat death. Following the crisis, McCoy AFB hosted a permanent U-2 operating detachment of the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing until 1973.
McCoy AFB was identified for closure in early 1973 as part of a post-Vietnam reduction in force. The following year, McCoy's 306th Bombardment Wing was inactivated, its B-52D Stratofortress and KC-135A Stratotanker aircraft reassigned to other SAC units and most of the McCoy AFB facility turned over to the city of Orlando by the General Services Administration in late 1974 and early and mid 1975. USAF responsibility for the airfield's air traffic control tower was turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration and the airport established its own crash, fire and rescue department, initially utilizing equipment transferred by the GSA.
Civil-military years
In the early 1960s, when jet airline flights came to Orlando, the installation became a joint civil-military facility.Early jetliners such as the Boeing 707, Boeing 720, Douglas DC-8 and Convair 880 required longer and sturdier runways than the ones at Herndon Airport. Nearby lakes and commercial and residential development made expansion impractical, so an agreement was reached between the City of Orlando and the United States Air Force in 1962 to use McCoy AFB under a joint arrangement. The military offered a large AGM-28 Hound Dog missile maintenance hangar and its associated flight line ramp area in the northeast corner of the field for conversion into a civil air terminal. The city would then cover the cost of building a replacement missile maintenance hangar on the main base's western flight line. The new civil facility would be known as the Orlando Jetport at McCoy and would operate alongside McCoy AFB. This agreement became a model for other joint civil-military airports in operation today.
Airline flights to the Orlando Jetport began shortly after an agreement was signed by the city and USAF in October 1961. Over the next few years airline flights shifted from the old Herndon Airport. In 1971 scheduled airlines were Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines and Southern Airways.
When McCoy AFB closed in 1975, part of the facility stayed under military control to support Naval Training Center Orlando and several tenant commands.
There are only a few enclaves on the original McCoy AFB site that the military still uses such as the 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade from the Florida Army National Guard in the former McCoy AFB Officers Club complex, an Army Reserve intelligence unit in the former SAC Alert Facility, the 1st Lieutenant David R. Wilson Armed Forces Reserve Center supporting multiple units of the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve that was constructed in 2002, and a large Navy Exchange for active, reserve and retired military personnel and their dependents.
Civil years
In 1975, the final Air Force contingent departed McCoy AFB and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority was established as a state-chartered local governmental agency and an enterprise fund of the city of Orlando. GOAA's mission was to operate, manage and oversee construction of expansions and improvements to both the Orlando International Airport and the Orlando Executive Airport. The airport gained its current name and international airport status a year later in 1976, but retained its old IATA airport code MCO and ICAO airport code KMCO.The airport became a U.S. Customs Service Foreign Trade Zone in 1978, said zone being designated as FTZ #42. In 1979, the facility was also designated as a large hub airport by the FAA based on flight operations and passenger traffic.
In 1978, construction of the current Landside Terminal and Airsides 1 and 3 began, opening in 1981. In 1983 a small chapel was opened memorializing Michael Galvin who died during the construction of the airport's expansion. The original International Concourse was housed in Airside 1 and opened in 1984. Funding to commence developing the east side of the airport was bonded in 1986, with Runway 17/35 completed in 1989. Airside 4 opened in 1990 and also contains an International Concourse for the processing of international flights. Airside 2, which filled out what will become known as the North Terminal complex, was completed in 2000, with the last additional gates added in 2006. Runway 17L/35R was opened in 2003, providing the airport with a total of four runways.
In 1978, the airport handled 5 million passengers. By 2018, that number had risen to 47 million. Today it covers 51 square kilometers and is the fifth-largest airport in the United States by land area after Denver International Airport which covers 136 square kilometers, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport which covers 70 square kilometers, Southwest Florida International Airport which covers 55 square kilometers, and Washington Dulles International Airport which covers 53 square kilometers. MCO has North America's fourth tallest control tower at 345 feet, replacing two earlier Air Force and FAA control towers.
Orlando was a designated Space Shuttle emergency landing site. The west-side runways, Runway 18L/36R and Runway 18R/36L, were designed for B-52 Stratofortress bombers and due to their proximity to NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, were an obvious choice for an emergency landing should an emergency return to launch site attempt to land at KSC have fallen short. The runway was also an emergency divert site for NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Transport Aircraft when relocating orbiters from either west coast modification work or divert recoveries at Edwards AFB, California or the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Eastern Air Lines used Orlando as a hub during the 1970s and early 1980s, and became "the official airline of Walt Disney World." Following Eastern's demise, Delta Air Lines assumed this role, although it later pulled much of its large aircraft hub operations from Orlando and focused its service there on regional jet flights, before pulling down the hub entirely in the mid-2000's.
On February 22, 2005, the airport became the first airport in Florida to accept E-Pass and SunPass toll transponders as a form of payment for parking. The system allows drivers to enter and exit a parking garage without pulling a ticket or stopping to pay the parking fee. The two toll roads that serve the airport, SR 528 and SR 417, use these systems for automatic toll collection.
The original terminal building, a converted hangar, was described as inadequate for the task at hand even when it was first opened as Orlando Jetport. After its closure in 1981, it passed through several tenants, the last of which was UPS. It was demolished in May 2006.
On February 1, 2010, Allegiant Air began operations at the airport. The company moved one half of its Orlando Sanford International Airport schedule to Orlando to test revenue at the higher cost airport. After evaluating the routes out of Orlando, the carrier decided to consolidate and return its Orlando area operations to Sanford citing an inability to achieve a fare premium at Orlando as anticipated, passenger preference for Orlando Sanford International Airport, higher costs at Orlando than expected and a more efficient operating environment at Sanford.
aircraft
In March 2015, Emirates announced that they would begin daily service to the airport from Dubai International Airport beginning September 1, 2015. The airport had tried to attract Emirates for five years before the service was announced. Orlando International was the first airport in Florida served by Emirates. The airline expects three major markets for the flights: leisure and corporate travelers along with locals of Asian heritage traveling to Asia, which is well-served by the airline. Greater Orlando Aviation Association Chair Frank Kruppenbacher called the new service "without question the biggest, most significant move forward for our airport" and estimates that the local economic impact of the new service will be up to $100 million annually. The inaugural flight was made with an Airbus A380. Regularly scheduled flights operate with Boeing 777-300ERs.
On May 18, 2016, the airport launched its own radio station, FlyMCO 105.1 HD2, an FM HD Radio subchannel of WOMX-FM. With the goal of "keeping passengers informed, entertained and aware" FlyMCO 105.1 HD2 provides quick access to up-to-date airport information, local weather, and adult contemporary / top-40 pop music. The radio station can be heard across 11 Central Florida counties, and through WOMX's owner Entercom, is via the Radio.com website/app outside of central Florida.
In 2017, the airport reached 44.6 million passengers, surpassing Miami International Airport to be become the busiest airport in the state of Florida.
Future
The Orlando International Airport Intermodal Terminal is currently under construction approximately one mile due south of the main airport terminal. The new station, which is partially being funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, will serve as the Orlando station for the Virgin Trains USA higher speed regional rail service to South Florida, possibly Sunrail, and a link to International Drive. The station, which will be connected to the main terminal via an automated people mover system, is mostly reusing plans from the original Florida High Speed Rail Orlando Airport station, which would have been northern terminus of the initial Orlando-Tampa route along the Interstate 4 corridor, a project that was killed. As part of the estimated $684 million price tag for the intermodal terminal complex, the airport authority is building a new 2,500 space parking garage.A future connection to the SunRail commuter rail service is also being explored. The route to the current SunRail line would travel along an Orlando Utilities Commission rail spur, before either branching off to the intermodal station, or have an intermediate transfer point on to light rail to complete the journey to this station. Multiple options are being considered for the link to I-Drive, either an elevated maglev train system built by American Maglev Technology, connecting the airport to the Orange County Convention Center, the Florida Mall, and the Sand Lake Road SunRail station, or a light rail link running along a similar route as the maglev alternative between the airport and International Drive.
In May 2015, the Board of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority voted unanimously to approve construction of the $1.8 billion South Terminal Complex, which will be located directly south of the existing terminal. The STC will be built adjacent to the South Airport Intermodal Terminal, which was completed in early 2018, and both will be connected to the existing terminal via a new Automated People Mover. Phase I will encompass approximately and will include new aircraft taxiways and aprons, a terminal building with 16-24 gates, and a 6-story 5,000 space parking garage. Construction of the STC began in 2017, and it is expected to be operational by 2021.
In June 2018 GOAA approved the expansion of Phase 1, known as Phase 1X, which will add another six gates to the South. The construction firms building the new South Terminal are Hensel Phelps, and Turner-Kiewit Joint Venture. Vanderlande Industries will be providing the new high-tech ICS haggage handling system.
Facilities
Terminals
The Orlando International Airport has a hub-and-spoke layout with a large main terminal building and four airside concourses accessible via elevated people movers, with a total of 129 gates. The main terminal building is divided into two terminals; Terminal A and Terminal B. There are passenger check-in and baggage claim facilities in both terminals, which also share two security checkpoints, one in the West Hall leading to Airsides 1 & 3, and another in the East Atrium, leading to Airsides 2 & 4. Unlike the similar setup used in Tampa, passengers are required to go through security before accessing the people movers.Airsides 1 and 3, and later Airside 4, were designed by KBJ Architects, while Airside 2 was designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, Helman Hurley Charvat Peacock Architects, and Rhodes + Brito Architects. C.T. Hsu + Associates and Rhodes + Brito Architects designed renovations that were made to Airsides 1 and 3, which were completed by April 2010.
Airside 4 currently serves as the airport's primary international arrivals concourse; Airside 1 also handles some international arrivals. Arriving international passengers who require immigration and/or customs clearance are processed through those checkpoints in the airside terminal where they arrive. After clearing U.S. immigration, passengers collect their baggage and clear U.S. customs. After clearing customs, international passengers must ride the people mover to the main terminal. Airside 4 provides escalator access directly from the customs hall to the people mover platform. This has eliminated the requirement for arriving international passengers to go through a security inspection between the customs area and the people mover, and as a result they now have the option of bringing their checked baggage with them on the people mover. Alternatively, passengers also have the option of placing their baggage on a transfer belt in the customs hall for transport to the main terminal's baggage claim. Passengers who are connecting to a flight in Airside 4 or clearing customs in Airside 1, as well as airport employees, will need to go through security upon exiting customs.
Terminal A
Terminal A consists of the northern half of the main terminal, with tramway systems to Airside 1 and Airside 2. Airlines operating check-in and baggage facilities within Terminal A generally operate out of Airside 1 and Airside 2, but that is not always the case.Airside 1 contains gates 1–29 and houses the airport's secondary international arrivals facility. This concourse houses a Club at MCO.
Airside 2 contains gates 100–129.
Terminal B
Terminal B consists of the southern half of the main terminal, with tramway systems to Airside 3 and Airside 4. Airlines operating check-in and baggage facilities within Terminal B generally operate out of Airside 3 and Airside 4, but that is not always the case. Airside 4 also houses the primary international arrivals concourse used by many European airlines.Airside 3 contains gates 30–59. It contains an American Airlines Admirals Club as well as a United Club.
Airside 4 contains gates 70–99 and houses the airport's primary international arrivals facility. Gates 80-87 are capable of handling international arrivals, and gates 92, 94, and 96 are nearing completion to be used as "swing" gates. Gate 90 was updated in the summer of 2018 to be able to handle the Airbus A380, having two airbridges for the lower deck, and one airbridge for the upper deck. The concourse contains a Club at MCO as well as a Delta Sky Club.
Hotel
The airport features an on-site Hyatt Regency hotel within the main terminal structure. The hotel is located on the East Atrium side of the terminal with a fourth floor lobby level and guest rooms beginning on level five and above. The airport features an expansive lobby area for guests awaiting flights, convention space, several bars, and two restaurants including a signature restaurant on the top level of the terminal building overlooking the airport facility and runways below.Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Statistics
Top destinations
| Rank | City | Passengers | Top carriers |
| 1 | London–Gatwick, United Kingdom | 720,898 | British Airways, Norwegian, Virgin Atlantic |
| 2 | Toronto, Canada | 620,702 | Air Canada, Air Transat, Sunwing, WestJet |
| 3 | São Paulo–Guarulhos, Brazil | 450,738 | LATAM |
| 4 | Manchester, United Kingdom | 420,682 | Virgin Atlantic |
| 5 | Panama City, Panama | 370,270 | Copa Airlines |
| 6 | Mexico City, Mexico | 332,480 | Aeromexico, JetBlue, Volaris |
| 7 | Montréal, Canada | 198,650 | Air Canada, Air Transat |
| 8 | Frankfurt, Germany | 189,504 | Lufthansa |
| 9 | Bogotá, Colombia | 180,854 | Avianca, JetBlue, Spirit |
| 10 | Montego Bay, Jamaica | 137,047 | JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit |