Orlando International Airport unveils $1.2B expansion plan

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority wants to spend $1.2 billion during the next five years on new and renovation projects at Orlando International Airport.

The projects include:                                                   

• $470 million to expand the airport’s people mover system and a 3,500-space parking garage

• $114 million to upgrade Airside 4 to improve the flow of international traffic

• $90 million to upgrade the existing people mover system

• $18 million for a new cellphone waiting lot

• $120 million toward what will eventually be a $2.1 billion south terminal

The capital plan proposed by the airport was detailed in a fee package presented to the airport’s top 14 airlines June 13. The five-year agreement with top airlines — which includes Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways — expires Sept. 30 and talks have broken down between the airlines and the aviation authority over extending it another five years.

Airlines have balked at a new agreement because of plans by the airport to build the $2.1 billion south terminal. The authority would begin seeking designs for the south terminal in 2017 and start construction on the project in 2018, according to the new fee agreement. It would take about four years to build the south terminal, which would have the new facility open in 2022.

“It’s a lot to absorb,” an airline executive who attended the meeting and did not want to be identified said of the new fee proposal.

The new agreement changes the way the airlines are charged for the airport’s space, baggage system, use of gates and parking, and it also leaves the airlines out of sharing revenue from the airport. Last year, the airlines received about $16 million from the airport.

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