US. For the fiscal year ended 30 September, Orlando International Airport recorded a +3% year-on-year increase in arrivals, and handled a total of 26.7 million passengers in the period, compared with slightly fewer than 26 million the year before and 30 million in 2001.
“We are encouraged that traffic is rebounding,” commented Orlando executive director Bill Jennings.
According to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper report, departures among the 14 US airlines tracked by the Air Transport Association fell a fraction of a percent during the same 12 months ended 30 September 2003.
Arrivals at Orlando International fell -13% in the fiscal year ended 30 September 2002, forcing officials to delay construction of the new, South Terminal building.
The airport’s existing terminal can handle 40 million passengers a year, so construction on the South Terminal is unlikely to begin until passenger traffic reaches at least 35 million, confirmed Jennings.
Throughout the US market, air travel began to improve once tighter security made travellers feel safer, but a sluggish economy has meant a slow recovery for the whole of this year.
An Orlando-based tourism marketing consultant Peter Yesawich told the Orlando Sentinel that Central Florida’s quick rebound was not surprising, based on the fact that the demand from leisure travel has grown in the past 12 months, and the only demand in business travel has been the group segment, made up of conventions and meetings. Orlando is one of the country’s top convention and meeting markets.
During the past few months, Central Florida has also shown small increases in room demand, a sign the market is attracting more overnight visitors. In September, hotel occupancy in the Orlando area averaged about 48%, up +4% from the year before, according to the latest figures from Smith Travel Research.
