Orlando International Airport Sr. Director Marketing & Air Service Development, Victoria Jaramillo at the CAPA Americas Aviation & LCCs 2022 Summit

Transcript

Victoria Jaramillo:We initially thought when the pandemic and our traffic was taking a nosedive that it was going to be 2025 before we saw our traffic come back. So in 2019, we had 50 million passengers, first airport in Florida to hit that milestone. And then obviously COVID hit. So right now, and I can say that this is as of yesterday, That the year-to-date, the rolling 12 months, we're at 45 million. So we are 90% there, which is great. Our domestic seats recovered in May of last year, and then slowly the international has been recovering as well. Obviously leisure is, you know, the big thing that's been driving that recovery. And obviously with the carriers that we have, because we have a mix of the legacies, the hybrids, and the ULCCs, when you have the ULCCs, the Frontiers and the Spirits, Spirit, that has led a lot of that recovery, and they've added more destinations since then. But what we also did during the whole pandemic is we really pushed locally to get people to travel out of Orlando. It's actually the point of sale, because we want to get it out, we want it to travel as well. So ironically, we had a new route to Hawaii that's doing well. Why? Because Floridians want to travel. The good news is, is that the pie is big enough for everybody. So we do have those the legacies there. We do have the hybrids there and we do have the ULCCs. They all have their various market that they target. It all— it has worked. I mean, because we've had obviously the Deltas, the United, the Americans, then, you know, the Southwest, the JetBlues and the Frontiers and Spirit. They all are doing very well as far as load factors and yields. So it is a good story because they're, again, different target markets. You know that I can't answer that question because that's one of those things that, you know, when you're talking with an airline, And it is a marathon. You know, it is not a sprint. I mean, to get Lufthansa and TEMSEO, it was a 14-year process. Why? Because they always look at Orlando as just the leisure, and there's so much more. I mean, there's that business component. It's one of their best routes into Florida as far as load factors, yields, and profitability. So yes, we are talking to many different carriers. Leisure's back in style because, as you've heard, you know, the business travel hasn't completely returned. But then people are flying in premium and premium economy. Right. So that's helping. But yes, we are talking to various carriers that we hope to be able to announce very soon. So exciting, because on September 19th, we will be moving the international carriers that are going to our new Terminal C. So that'll be Lufthansa, Emirates, Icelandair, British Airways, Aer Lingus, GOL, and Azul, and Norse when they come in, over into the new terminal. And then a week later, it'll be the domestics. It'll be JetBlue as the anchor, and then also Hawaiian. But part of that new terminal facility across from it is what we call our intermodal transit station or train station. So the train station has been there for a few years, but finally in 2023, Brightline trains will be coming into the station there. They'll have 18 trains a day from MCO, only airport on the system, to go from MCO to the city centers of Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. So it's another way. I mean, it's not air, but it's one of those things if you have weather delays, And flight delays, you can easily take a train down to South Florida. What's the funding for the future development? So first, let me just mention that the train station, the airport couldn't put any funds into that because it is not obviously aviation related. However, we were able to secure grants from the Florida Department of Transportation to help build that facility, which opened back. But so when COVID hit and we didn't know how long it was going to last, we were building the new terminal. So we never stopped building. But what we had to do is cut money out of the capital budget. So we reduced it, you know, by $300 million, but with that we cut 4 gates. It was supposed to be 19, now it's 15. But now the demand is surging. We don't have enough gates. We wish we had not cut it, but one doesn't know. So as part of that infrastructure plan, the plan is to put back those, those 4 gates and then put in a corridor that was also had to be eliminated during the budget cuts. So yes, we are hoping once we get this terminal open on in September, we The next phase is designing and getting those other gates back and using hopefully the infrastructure bill. Well, yes, but the other challenge for us being Orlando is that we're getting sometimes a lot of first-time travelers. So, you know, we know how to get to the airport and go through security and do what we need to do. But if it's a first-time traveler, you know, they might take a little bit more time going through security. One of the things we've had to do, because again, the traffic's been picking up, is we now have a reservation lane. So if, if you're a first-time traveler, you don't have TSA PreCheck. So you're able to make a reservation to go through security. And it was a pilot and it was initially, initially for 4 hours. Now it's going from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. to give people an opportunity to make a reservation, go through security. Everybody's having staffing challenges. We're not exempt from that. You know, it's the airport itself, the concessions. And so what people need to do is we're trying to advise people, get there 3 hours for a domestic flight because you don't know. I mean, you need to— if you want to have something to eat, And there's a long line. So again, we're doing everything we can. We've had some staffing shows— not shows, but expos to try to get more people to come into the airport. But it is a challenge everywhere. So we're just telling people, pack your patience. Yeah.

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