There’s no question that Orlando, Florida, is one of the country’s top leisure destinations. So it follows that a majority of passengers passing through Orlando International Airport (MCO) are going to or returning from the famous destination resort theme parks throughout the area. But surprisingly, some 40 percent of the 34.1 million travelers who came through MCO this past year were in the area for business or to attend a convention. In fact, Orlando is second in the country only to Las Vegas when it comes to the convention business. In terms of passenger traffic, MCO officials are quick to point out that this airport is first in Florida, ahead of Miami International. When it comes to total land mass, its 15,000 acres are only behind DFW and Denver International.

To accommodate business travelers, MCO is physically designed and technologically equipped to a degree that few major origination/destination airports can rival.

For example, the entire airport is Wi-Fi enabled with the service provided free of charge. At one section of Terminal A is a row of eight individual workstations with usage free. They provide a high degree of privacy and are more spacious and as well equipped (power port, pay phone, phone card vending machine) as what you’d find in most hotel business centers.

MCO also offers the only CLEAR registered traveler program in the United States. Travelers may sign up by providing personal data to permit a Federal security check and then have both a thumbprint and an iris scan recorded. Once that biometric information is entered into the system’s database, a card is issued.

When departing MCO, a registrant checks in at a special CLEAR security position manned by three young women in natty white jackets and beige slack uniforms. The ID card is inserted into a reader, the thumbprint or iris scan is taken, and in less time than it took to read this, the passenger’s TSA screening is completed. He then moves to dedicated security lanes where the security process is expedited.

For the business traveler requiring close-in accommodations or a venue for a conference or a meeting, MCO again offers both by having a luxury hotel as one of its features. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority owns the 446-room Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport that occupies the top six levels of the airport and wraps around the central core of the structure. In fact, that main carpeted atrium area is literally the hotel’s lobby. Hotel bellmen are available on request to stand by in baggage claim to assist arriving hotel guests. Among the Hyatt’s features are 50,000 square feet of meeting space plus a cocktail lounge and two fine dining restaurants. Close-by the airport and served by free shuttles are 28 quality hotels and motels. Downtown Orlando is about 11 miles due north of MCO.

Unlike many metropolitan airports that are limited in expansion space, MCO enjoys the luxury of being able to grow to accommodate whatever demands put on it in the future. “We were designed for expansion and have plenty of room to grow,” Carolyn Fennell, Director of Public Affairs, says. “We know where we’re going. The only question is when.” In designing the four passenger satellites, hallways were made so wide so there’s never a time when passengers deplaning, for example, are shoulder to shoulder. There is also a claim that a passenger at curbside is never more than 200 feet away from a check-in counter and that inside the airport, the longest distance from a gate to multi-model transportation is 800 feet.

Physical layout of MCO’s terminal is distinguished by having three separate levels compared to two in most airports. The effect is to divide functions to facilitate passenger and vehicle movements. The first level is used only for vehicles—rental car pickup and delivery, city and charter buses, taxis, vans, limos and Hyatt Hotel valet parking. Baggage claim is on the second level with escalators and elevators for passengers to proceed down to their ground transportation. Departing passengers may be dropped off at the third level and proceed in for ticketing and check-in, to the dining and shopping areas, and after security screening, move on to the People Mover serving the desired departure gates.

MCO’s distinctive layout involves four satellite “airside” terminals located away from the main terminal. Transfer between these four and the central terminal is by an Automated People Mover System consisting of eight trains each with three cars. The third car is a recent addition to accommodate MCO’s ever increasing traffic. The guideway between each airside and the terminal is 1,960 feet long with the trip taking just 60 seconds.

Airside One involves Gates 1-29 and is used mainly by international carriers but also American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Alaska Airlines. Airside Three has Gates 30–59 and is used by America West, Northwest, United, US Airways, Spirit and Air Canada. UAL has its Red Carpet there, too. Airside Four serves Gates 60–99 with Delta, Frontier, Midwest and four international airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Delta’s Crown Room Airside Two has Gates 100–129 and serves AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest.

Among the 43 scheduled carriers serving MCO, Southwest is a major player operating 91 flights a day or almost 20 percent of total daily traffic. Delta is close behind with 107 flights with 18 percent of the passengers and American runs number three with 33 flights for a bit more than 10 percent of daily traffic.

The central core building is divided almost equally in two—A Terminal and B Terminal. Located within the core area and before screening are all the airport’s food and beverage outlets and retailing. And like most else at MCO these are extensive and designed to provide maximum comfort and convenience for passengers.

The food court and adjoining area, for example, are some 30,000 square feet in area seating 882 and offers 14 different outlets. Passengers may also, of course, avail themselves of the lounges and restaurants in the Hyatt Hotel. Some four dozen smart shops and services line the main hallways between Terminal A and Terminal B. 

While no carrier has indicated plans to operate the A380 into MCO, the airport claims that when the time comes it’ll be ready to accept the giant aircraft, either in passenger or cargo configurations, with a minimum of new construction. Its two main runways, for example, are already long enough (12,000 feet) and thick enough to take the A380. That’s because today’s international airport was, until 1974, McCoy Air Force Base, home of a squadron of B-52 intercontinental bombers. When the Pentagon closed the base, the city of Orlando inherited those runways along with the airport designator MCO. The airport has two additional active runways, one 9,000 feet long, the other 10,000 feet long, permitting three simultaneous aircraft operations.

As with most other elements of MCO, parking is more than adequate and has its share of automation. The three parking garages within the main terminal provide some 9,300 spaces while there’s another 10,200 available in satellite lots. Local residents may participate in one of two electronic garage parking payment systems by having a tiny transponder installed in the car. Drivers so equipped, just drive into the terminal parking lots without stopping to get a ticket. Instead, the charges are billed monthly to the owner. The same so-called E-Pass or state-operated Sun Pass system also pays for road tolls. In November the airport will introduce a Premium two-hour parking area with 160 spaces on level two for transponder-equipped cars. Hourly charge not yet set.

MCO boasts that its car rental facilities are greatest in the country, topping those of Las Vegas. Within the airport five major car rental companies have their counters. Additionally, another 16 car rental companies are located off-site.