MCO Airlines on AAF "Stop This"

[spuwho]

The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board spoke out this week against members of the airline committee at OIA that are objecting to recent expansion plans. The airlines think they will be on the hook to pay for the rail hub.

Airport leaders shouldn't let airlines veto rail hub

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-oia-train-station-20130325,0,5580977.story

The authority that manages Orlando International Airport has hit some turbulence lately.

The authority has put a long envisioned southern terminal at the airport in a holding pattern, but is moving ahead with planning for a $470 million parking garage, monorail link and infrastructure for a new train station.

A committee representing the biggest airlines at the airport is not happy. "Stop all of this," demanded committee chief Randy Gillespie, director of airport affairs for Southwest Airlines.

Talk about chutzpah.

The authority shouldn't even think about letting the airlines veto a project that could significantly upgrade Central Florida's transportation network â€" especially if the project wouldn't cost those carriers anything.

The train station would be built by All Aboard Florida, a private passenger-rail system that would run from the airport to Miami. The train's backers are hoping to start service in 2015, though there are big challenges ahead to meeting that goal.

But the station also could become a destination for a spur from the SunRail commuter train, on track to begin service across Central Florida next year.

Another train, linking the airport and the Orange County Convention Center, also might use the station. A fourth line, linking the station with Port Canaveral, is possible, too. Buses also could use the station.

At least two members of Congress from Central Florida â€" House Republicans John Mica and Dan Webster â€" told the Sentinel they would make developing the new transit hub one of their priorities.

While the southern terminal has been on the drawing board at the airport for at least 16 years, slower than expected growth in passenger volume has postponed the project. The airport is almost 10 million passengers a year short of the 45 million passengers that its planners say would be needed to justify a new terminal and prevent the existing one from becoming gridlocked.

The airport is now projecting it could reach that target between 2017 and 2022. The new terminal would take between four and five years to build.

Airlines oppose the southern terminal because they don't think it's needed, yet could be charged higher fees to help bankroll its roughly $1.6 billion cost. "It doesn't do us any good," Gillespie told the Sentinel. And the airlines see the train station improvements as simply part of the new terminal.

But airport leaders say the transportation hub could be built without raising fees on the airlines. And whether passenger traffic ultimately reaches the volume that dictates building a southern terminal, a new transit hub could be a huge benefit â€" not just for the airport, but for the entire region, a virtual hostage to crowded highways for transportation.

The benefit for Central Florida might not win over Southwest, which has moved scores of jobs out of Orlando since buying AirTran Airways a couple of years ago, but it ought to be pursued by leaders who are fully invested in the region's transportation future.

[thelakelander]

Seems like someone doesn't want the extra competition.

[Ocklawaha]

The funny part of that is that there is very little airline traffic between the two corridor terminus cities. Flying in and out to and from Bogota, Medellin or Panama City one either enters Miami or Orlando. If your flight lands in Miami and your headed for Orlando, you'll generally be put on a flight to 'elsewhere' that just happens to stop in Orlando on the way. Otherwise you'll get a smallish commuter plane. AA has dedicated 757 service non-stop but the combined capacity is only equal to 2, 8 car trains. Like Florida HSR, I have doubts that the market is as large as predicted - leaving me once again to suggest the Orlando Terminal needs to be IN ORLANDO. Likewise since the rail market isn't flying, they should look at a system of intermediate stops, any one train limited to a finite number between termini.

[urbanlibertarian]

Could the airlines take their business to Sanford AP if they don't like what OIA is doing?

[Gators312]

A pretty good analysis of the current situation at OIA.  Apparently the  main issue is there is not enough room on the landside for expanding TSA screening.   On the airside there are plenty of unused or underutilized gates.



"Orlando International Airport officials want to build a new $2.1 billion terminal with 16 gates that likely would lead to higher airfares, even though an Orlando Sentinel analysis shows 29 gates at the existing terminal have been shuttered or are rarely used.

The airlines oppose the expansion, arguing that it is unnecessary, the Sentinel has learned. They could be charged higher fees to help pay for the work, a cost the airlines probably would pass along to passengers."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-03-16/news/os-airport-expansion-unused-gates-20130316_1_airside-gates-director-of-airport-affairs

Also some discussion here:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5716884/?threadid=5716884&searchid=5719776&s=MCO+#ID5719776

[tufsu1]

Like Florida HSR, I have doubts that the market is as large as predicted - leaving me once again to suggest the Orlando Terminal needs to be IN ORLANDO.

Get over it....not going to happen!

[tufsu1]

actually, in this case, it does....contrary to Ock's belief, Orlando's airport is pretty much in the center of the region....and with Medical City @ Lake Nona blowing up, there's quite a lot of commerce in the area.

now, if folks want to get to downtown Orlando or Winter Park, there will likely be a SunRail connection allowing just that

[thelakelander]

Yeah, in this case, I don't see the need for AAF to continue into DT Orlando when Sunrail is already under construction.  Obviously, FEC agrees.