Orlando International hits 50mppa for second time in airport's history; how strong is Disney effect?
Several US airports have reported that 2022 passenger numbers set new records, or close to it. It was a good year, but the revival was already under way in 2021, and 2022 increases are about half of what was achieved the previous year. Orlando International, Florida, is one of those airports. In 2022 it handled 50 million passengers for only the second time in its history, the first time being in 2019.
Orlando is an interesting case because the area could (and does) claim to be the leading leisure destination in the world, courtesy of the numerous Disney (and other) theme parks and resort areas in its vicinity, which have reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic.
To what extent does the 'Disney Effect' impact these figures? It is difficult to say - because for all its pulling power, Orlando International is also a wider tourism, VFR and business airport, with capacity stretching across the Caribbean and parts of South America, as well as domestically and to Europe.
Disney has definitely had an impact as tourists flock back to attractions denied to them for over a year, but as traffic figures at other Disney location cities show, theme parks alone cannot always influence passenger numbers.
Summary
- Orlando International Airport reports over 50mppa in 2022 - for the second time.
- Other US airports are reporting record-breaking years.
- The 'Disney effect' has played a part at Orlando since the theme parks reopened.
- But Orlando, like many other US airports, was only building on a better year in 2021.
- Other airports around the world where Disney has a presence in the city report traffic growth or loss, which is more in keeping with the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic there.
Over 50mppa at Orlando International in 2022, following the same in 2019
Despite the current difficulties at the Disney Corporation, which is laying off 7,000 of its staff and cutting USD5.5 billion in costs, Orlando International Airport (IATA code MCO) is flourishing, recording an annual throughput of 50.2 million passengers in 2022 - the second time it has reached 50 million in its history.
The previous occasion was in 2019, when it was the tenth busiest US airport, sandwiched between Las Vegas Harry Reid (or McCarran as it then was - another heavily tourist-oriented airport) and the hub airport Charlotte-Douglas.
Not only a leisure destination
It isn't the case that Orlando International wouldn't exist without Disney - there are other industries apart from tourism in the city-region, especially CIT and tech-related ones, and the larger metropolitan region counts just over two million people - but it would probably be a much smaller airport.
Disney has several properties in and around Orlando, led by Disney World, which collectively attract millions of visitors from North America and further afield each year.
Disney properties in the vicinity of Orlando, Florida, USA
Terminal C construction is vindicated
The airport reports that the 50.2 million passengers it handled in 2022 represented an increase of 24.4% year-on-year (10 million).
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority's CEO Kevin Thibault stated: "These numbers validate our strong belief that Terminal C was more than needed to meet projected demand. By continuing to build during the pandemic, we are now well positioned for the future growth and economic expansion of the Central Florida region".
GOAA Chairman Carson Good added, "We find ourselves at the cusp of great possibilities for the future. This started with the opening of Terminal C and now we have an even brighter outlook for strong economic growth for our region and state".
Terminal C is part of the South Terminal Complex and opened in Sep-2022, adding 15 gates in an area of 80,000sqft and a new exclusive parking for Terminal C, named Parking C. The terminal is also adjacent to the MCO rail station.
Passenger traffic has not always grown at Orlando in the period for which CAPA holds records.
Since 2009, and overlooking the first COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, traffic at Orlando fell in three years (2009, 2012 and 2014) - the maximum decline being the 5.5% recorded in 2009, in the middle of the financial crisis.
There was steady and solid growth from 2015-2019, averaging 7.2% per annum.
Orlando International Airport: annual traffic, passenger numbers/growth, 2009-2022
Strong recovery already under way in 2021; international traffic rebounding faster, but from a smaller base
The airport suffered a setback of -57% in 2020 but more than reversed it in 2021 (+87%), and then grew a further 24.4% in 2022.
Within that 2022 increase Orlando's international traffic grew by 184.2%, with 5,543,168 total passengers.
Domestic passenger traffic volume increased by 16.24%, with 44,635,331 total passengers.
International traffic accounted for 11% of the overall traffic at MCO in 2022, as compared to 5%.
So while domestic passenger totals are much higher, international travel is growing much more quickly.
Seat capacity easily outstrips 2019 levels
The 'pandemic recovery' (as it is often referred to) is in full swing at Orlando, with seat capacity well in excess of 2019 levels.
Interestingly, and as CAPA has pointed out previously, 2022 capacity levels were broadly the same as in 2019, and even 2021 levels had caught up with those of 2019 by the third quarter of the year as tourists resumed their visits to the 'Magic Kingdom' as soon as they were able to.
Orlando International Airport: weekly total seat capacity, 2019-2023* (projected)
While taking a snapshot that is still in February of 2023 - 39 million seats have already been committed by airlines to MCO, compared to 59 million in the whole of 2022.
LCCs account for 63% of capacity
Low cost carriers are in the ascendancy at MCO, with 63% of capacity, and almost all of the remainder (36%) being full service.
And the frequently found corollary of that - a lack of alliance airline seats - is also to be found at MCO. Two thirds of seats are on unaligned airlines.
There is no dominant airline. The three leading ones are LCCs or ULCCs - Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines, which collectively have half of the total capacity.
Despite the increase in international capacity, it still accounts for only 16% of the total.
Easier to fly to the attractions than drive
The region is a major attraction across much of the US, but by road its location makes it accessible only to hardened long-distance drivers from the heavily populated areas in the northeast (and in Canada).
And only 8% of capacity is on foreign airlines.
Apart from North America, which has the greatest share of seats by a large margin, the second largest region is not Western Europe, as might be anticipated,
Central America, with the Caribbean and Upper South America, are not far behind.
Tourism not the only travel generator
However, it may not be tourism alone that dictates these statistics.
Not only the Miami area but also Florida as a whole have been settled from these regions, generating VFR and general tourism traffic.
And that becomes more apparent from the chart of seat capacity by country - led by Puerto Rico (an unincorporated US territory), and with Mexico in third position, ahead of the UK, from where a large majority of visitors will be tourists.
Orlando International Airport: international departing seats by country/territory
Heavy utilisation, 24/7 operation, but airlines prefer more attractive daytime scheduling
Utilisation of the airport is high as might be expected.
The chart below is for Friday 17-Feb-2023, Friday being one of the busier days of the week. It shows heavy utilisation measured by departing and arriving seats.
Orlando International Airport: system seats per hour for Friday 17-Feb-2023, all airlines
There is no curfew at MCO, which has relatively uninhabited areas to the south (on the arrival/departure path) and to the east.
Location of the airport with respect to the city of Orlando and the main theme parks (to the left)
But most airlines choose to time their flights at reasonable hours, and they are targeting business passengers as well as leisure ones.
Other and larger 'Disney cities' more reflective of continuing or abandoned travel restrictions than of the Disney factor
It may be pertinent to compare MCO's traffic revival with other airports in cities where there is a major Disney presence, but of course in larger cities there will be many other factors involved, apart from theme park tourism.
There are six Disney theme parks:
- US - Walt Disney World Resort (Florida) (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom)
- US - Disneyland Resort (California) (Disneyland, California Adventure)
- Japan - Tokyo Disney Resort (Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea)
- France - Disneyland Paris (Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park)
- Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (Hong Kong Disneyland)
- China - Shanghai Disney Resort (Shanghai Disneyland).
For these purposes, two airports are considered for Disneyland in California (Los Angeles International for domestic and international traffic and John Wayne Orange County for mainly domestic traffic). Other airports in the Los Angeles area might benefit from such traffic (Long Beach, Hollywood Burbank, Ontario) but not to the same degree.
Two airports are investigated also for Tokyo (Haneda and Narita - Ibaraki is omitted here); Paris (Charles de Gaulle and Orly - Beauvais is omitted here); and Shanghai (Pudong/international and Hongqiao/domestic).
Orlando International Airport: passenger traffic comparison with other locations of Disney theme parks (2022 and 2021)
|
Airport |
Passenger traffic 2022 (millions) |
+/- 2021 (%) |
|
50.2 |
24.4 |
|
|
65.9 |
37.3 |
|
|
John Wayne Orange County |
11.4 |
47.5 |
|
50.0 |
93.2 |
|
|
15.4 |
194.0 |
|
|
57.5 |
119.4 |
|
|
29.2 |
85.6 |
|
|
5.6 |
318.7 |
|
|
14.2 |
(-56.0) |
|
|
13.2 |
(-57.5) |
At first glance, MCO appears to be faring worse than all the other airports apart from those in China, where lockdowns and travel restrictions continued for most of 2022.
However, MCO's traffic growth in 2022 is indicative of the fact that while large public attractions in the US like theme parks were closed during the pandemic, domestic air travel generally kept going through the worst of it. It was, however, reduced, while in many other countries air travel generally collapsed to a small fraction of what it had been.
Moreover, the US revival started earlier, in 2021, so the 2022 increase was merely building on a bigger one in the previous year - or 'genuine growth' if you will.
The same applies to the Los Angeles airports.
As for the other airports' data, they are collectively a microcosm of how individual countries have come out of the impositions of the pandemic, or haven't.
China is still struggling, and will do during the first half of 2023. France and Japan have both gained massively since restrictions were loosened, and Hong Kong even more so.
Disney will be delighted. They should make a film about it.
Other US airports starting to report a record breaking year
Orlando International isn't the only US airport to be reporting passenger numbers equalling those of 2019, or even achieving new records.
Within the past few days both St Louis MidAmerica Airport and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport reported that they had handled a record number of passengers in 2022.
The former airport is a small joint-use civil and military airport in Illinois, and the second serves what is regarded as one of the US' most influential music towns (with two big festivals each year).
Neither airport is connected to Disney or any other such theme park, which proves that any US airport of any size can rebound, irrespective of pandemics, inflation and other economic malaise.
But having a Disney property nearby would be a boon as well, for sure.
See another relevant CAPA report on aviation in Orlando: Orlando Sanford: hoping to improve attractiveness to airlines