Metro Orlando Airport News

[jrs2]

23 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Icelandair  is pulling its  service to Reykjavik from Tampa, but not to worry - flights to and from MCO continue so you can still hang out with reindeer and polar bears at will. Score one for the home team!

Icelandair discontinues flights out of Tampa International Airport

https://www.tampabay.com/business/icelandair-pulling-out-of-tampa-international-airport-20190617/

 

(Via Tampa Bay Times)

...and Elsa et al...?

well, here is a direct benefit from tourism...these unique-ish direct flights...

[shardoon]

New seasonal direct to Buenos Aires. I am assuming if it performs well, it will turn into year round and possibly more. 

https://orlandoairports.net/press/2019/06/25/aerolineas-argentinas-announces-new-nonstop-service-to-buenos-aires/

Once Terminal C opens, I can really see MCO turning into a major international gateway. True, we do not have any US legacy carrier hub, we certainly clasify as a hub for the asymmetric airlines of SW, spirit, jetblue, and Frontier. I can see many more international flights from foreign legacy carriers. I would love for MCO to snag a direct to East Asia, either Japan, Korea, China, or Hong Kong. I also feel that once Jetblue moves into their new digs at terminal C, we are going to see a huge expansion of their route network out of Orlando.   

[spenser1058]

It seems OIA is the slowest US airport for handling international arrivals:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/transportation/os-ne-orlando-international-airport-slowest-in-the-world-20190626-32oa26ldfbaylau7zm4hfnk7xu-story.html?outputType=amp

From the Sentinel 

[HankStrong]

10 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

It seems OIA is the slowest US airport for handling international arrivals:

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/transportation/os-ne-orlando-international-airport-slowest-in-the-world-20190626-32oa26ldfbaylau7zm4hfnk7xu-story.html?outputType=amp

From the Sentinel 

My buddy (a UK national) sat in customs for almost 2.5 hours about 6-8 weeks ago.  He said that multiples flights landed and there were so few people at the customs desk that they were backed up hundreds of feet down the hall that opens to the customs area.  I got a text saying he landed and that he'd text again when he cleared for me to come get him.  I fell asleep in the interim.  That was long.

I have Global Entry, so I breeze through coming home, but my last flight the entire customs line had cleared before the bags started appearing.  First time that has ever happened.  There must have been a problem.  We were in the back of the plane, were through Global Entry lane in minutes, and sat there for 45 minutes or more before bag one came out.  My bag was the very first one that came out.  My wife's was in the last dozen.  Cheers turned into jeers.

[bqknight]

13 hours ago, shardoon said:

New seasonal direct to Buenos Aires. I am assuming if it performs well, it will turn into year round and possibly more. 

https://orlandoairports.net/press/2019/06/25/aerolineas-argentinas-announces-new-nonstop-service-to-buenos-aires/

Once Terminal C opens, I can really see MCO turning into a major international gateway. True, we do not have any US legacy carrier hub, we certainly clasify as a hub for the asymmetric airlines of SW, spirit, jetblue, and Frontier. I can see many more international flights from foreign legacy carriers. I would love for MCO to snag a direct to East Asia, either Japan, Korea, China, or Hong Kong. I also feel that once Jetblue moves into their new digs at terminal C, we are going to see a huge expansion of their route network out of Orlando.   

We are *technically* not a hub for JetBlue and Frontier - but instead - a "focus city". We're a mini-hub if you will. 

Not sure that will change once the new terminal opens and JetBlue flies out of there. 

[shardoon]

54 minutes ago, bqknight said:

We are *technically* not a hub for JetBlue and Frontier - but instead - a "focus city". We're a mini-hub if you will. 

Not sure that will change once the new terminal opens and JetBlue flies out of there. 

For the asymmetric airlines, they do not really use the word "hub", only "focus city." Legacy carriers use the word hub because they still employ the hub and spoke  system.  The asymmetric airlines use a point to point system, however, Orlando seems to have the most direct connections with them due to it location as their international gateway to many Caribbean and Latin America locations as well as our attractions. In a sense , we are one of the few "focus cities" that act like a traditional hub spoke system due to these international connections.  

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, HankStrong said:

My buddy (a UK national) sat in customs for almost 2.5 hours about 6-8 weeks ago.  He said that multiples flights landed and there were so few people at the customs desk that they were backed up hundreds of feet down the hall that opens to the customs area.  I got a text saying he landed and that he'd text again when he cleared for me to come get him.  I fell asleep in the interim.  That was long.

I have Global Entry, so I breeze through coming home, but my last flight the entire customs line had cleared before the bags started appearing.  First time that has ever happened.  There must have been a problem.  We were in the back of the plane, were through Global Entry lane in minutes, and sat there for 45 minutes or more before bag one came out.  My bag was the very first one that came out.  My wife's was in the last dozen.  Cheers turned into jeers.

people just don't want to pay for the shorter line...

[popsiclebrandon]

When I got back from London a few weeks ago I got lucky our flight got in before British Airways big plane because I waited maybe 15 mins for customs but then the line was easily over an hour after that. Baggage took almost an hour to arrive. Made me miss how efficient all the airports we visited in Europe were in comparison. I never waited more than 3 mins for a bag anywhere.

[shardoon]

The march to 50 million continues. Calendar year through May is 49,154,000 passengers.  We added 383k to the total for the past month. At this rate, by the end of the year, we should be close to 52 million passengers. These numbers are mind blowing. I can see us reaching 60 million real fast once terminal C opens. 

[spenser1058]

10 minutes ago, shardoon said:

The march to 50 million continues. Calendar year through May is 49,154,000 passengers.  We added 383k to the total for the past month. At this rate, by the end of the year, we should be close to 52 million passengers. These numbers are mind blowing. I can see us reaching 60 million real fast once terminal C opens. 

They should give out free Chevys everyday for a year like Disney once did to celebrate (imagines JFW hitting the BeeLine in a Lumina)!

[HankStrong]

Lumina!  Ha!  I'm (still) fascinated by my mother purchasing a Chevy Beretta GTZ as her own personal empty-nester celebration vehicle when my youngest sibling left for college.  She sold the minivan and showed up in a car that I doubt ever went more than 55 mph in its lifetime.  My father hated it and my mother (even in her youngest days) firmly refused to drive on the interstate.  She's a local roads only type.

She did rev the engine a lot to show off how powerful her baby was.

[spenser1058]

19 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Lumina!  Ha!  I'm (still) fascinated by my mother purchasing a Chevy Beretta GTZ as her own personal empty-nester celebration vehicle when my youngest sibling left for college.  She sold the minivan and showed up in a car that I doubt ever went more than 55 mph in its lifetime.  My father hated it and my mother (even in her youngest days) firmly refused to drive on the interstate.  She's a local roads only type.

She did rev the engine a lot to show off how powerful her baby was.

Baseball and hot dogs. Apple pie and Chevrolet...

[HankStrong]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Baseball and hot dogs. Apple pie and Chevrolet...

My parents weren't brand loyal.  They had just about every kind of car on the market.

[spenser1058]

3 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

My parents weren't brand loyal.  They had just about every kind of car on the market.

Ahhh - I came from a serious GM family. I was OK with that but I wanted a Pontiac and my dad insisted I follow the steps and start with a Chevy.

He also was not a fan of pony cars and so, at age 18, I found myself, not even in a Camaro (much less a Firebird) but a freakin’ Malibu Classic. I was not amused.

A few years later, hanging out with the Vandy crowd, I traded the ‘bu in on a used Fiat Spider. Of course, as Fiats are wont to do, it fell apart.

My father promptly stuck me in an ‘83 Celebrity which was even less reliable than the Spider. The ‘80’s weren’t kind to GM.

After that, I financed my own cars and bought a Jetta after graduating. Life was good (ironically, I became a Ford true believer for the next 30 years after that.)

 

 

[HankStrong]

Good thing there isn't a lot of airport talk going on, but chew on this link:

https://dyler.com/cars/8579/oldsmobile-cutlass-supreme-coupe-1978-brown-for-sale

That was my ride.  Exact same exterior/interior.   Fun fact, the 1978 was the only year that style of Cutlass Supreme had the light up rocket in the taillights.   Another fun fact, until many years after I sold that car I had no idea that was supposed to be a rocket in the logo.   No clue.

[spenser1058]

13 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Good thing there isn't a lot of airport talk going on, but chew on this link:

https://dyler.com/cars/8579/oldsmobile-cutlass-supreme-coupe-1978-brown-for-sale

That was my ride.  Exact same exterior/interior.   Fun fact, the 1978 was the only year that style of Cutlass Supreme had the light up rocket in the taillights.   Another fun fact, until many years after I sold that car I had no idea that was supposed to be a rocket in the logo.   No clue.

Woohoo! That’s CLASS. I think during those years the Cutlass was America’s best-selling vehicle (now it’s the Ford F-150).

An Olds dealer once told me back then that the best-selling car was whatever GM decided it would be. My, how the world has changed.

[popsiclebrandon]

5 hours ago, HankStrong said:

Lumina!  Ha!  I'm (still) fascinated by my mother purchasing a Chevy Beretta GTZ as her own personal empty-nester celebration vehicle when my youngest sibling left for college.  She sold the minivan and showed up in a car that I doubt ever went more than 55 mph in its lifetime.  My father hated it and my mother (even in her youngest days) firmly refused to drive on the interstate.  She's a local roads only type.

She did rev the engine a lot to show off how powerful her baby was.

My first car was a 1991 Chevy Beretta (Got it in 02/03) with only the passenger door working so I had to climb in that way or ask whoever was with me to open the driver door. I still kinda miss it.

[jrs2]

[spenser1058]

Orlando to benefit as Jet Blue reallocates air service to the cities where it has the greatest market share:

https://www.fool.com/amp/investing/2019/07/03/jetblue-is-canceling-more-routes.aspx

From the Motley Fool 

[spenser1058]

$4.5 million in taxiway and other improvements coming to Sanford International:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-orlando-sanford-airport-federal-money-20190708-o5gwci7mubfp5jv3qv3bos6kty-story.html

From the Sentinel 

[spenser1058]

Officials hope Israeli interest in our theme parks and work between the two countries on space projects will keep the new non stop service on El Al to Tel Aviv going beyond August:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-orlando-to-israel-flight-20190709-epg5tsadfnbyjlgbuotgypwgwy-story.html

From the Sentinel 

[sethM]

4 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Officials hope Israeli interest in our theme parks and work between the two countries on space projects will keep the new non stop service on El Al to Tel Aviv going beyond August:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-orlando-to-israel-flight-20190709-epg5tsadfnbyjlgbuotgypwgwy-story.html

From the Sentinel 

It'd be nice if they would offer tickets for lower prices. $1400 r/t in economy is a bit steep. 

[Camillo Sitte]

On 7/10/2019 at 8:13 AM, sethM said:

It'd be nice if they would offer tickets for lower prices. $1400 r/t in economy is a bit steep. 

El Al isn't worried about price resistance.

This new service is a total of 11 flights.

Not 11 a month, or 11 a season, but 11 flights in total. This really isn't even  a new service. El Al is basically just filling some slack utilization they have with the 789 in July and August.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Camillo Sitte

[shardoon]

New non stop service announced on Eurowings to Munich. Hello Oktoberfest!

[HankStrong]

23 minutes ago, shardoon said:

New non stop service announced on Eurowings to Munich. Hello Oktoberfest!

Not if I buy your seat first!