Orlando airport and train officials give tourism and travel updates

Travel to Central Florida has made a remarkable recovery since the pandemic, and there’s no clearer sign of that comeback than the expansion of transportation options in Orlando. From Orlando International Airport’s expansive Terminal C to the launch of Brightline high speed train service to Miami, the region’s transportation infrastructure has evolved rapidly over the past year, and several leaders behind those impactful changes recently gathered for a fascinating round-table discussion about travel trends.

On Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, the Plaza Premium Lounge in Orlando International Airport’s Terminal C celebrated its first anniversary by hosting a Travel Trends Dialogue. Plaza Premium Lounge Orlando General Manager Alain Hernandez introduced the panel, which was moderated by Enrique Perrella, aviation director for Business Traveler USA. The featured speakers were Pascal Belanger, senior VP of Americas of Plaza Premium Group; Kevin Thibault, chief executive officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority; and George Edwards, vice president of guest experience for Brightline Trains.

Here are some selected highlights of their conversation recounting the recent history of their organizations, and prognosticating the near future of travel and tourism in Central Florida.

Belanger: This is effectively our flagship brands in the United States. You know, we’re still in our infancy in the U.S. and we put a lot of resources behind this. Every time I come back here and I look at this, I say to myself, this is a cool place. I want to bring even other airport operators here to say this is what we can do … This airport [and] this city tick all the boxes.

Thibault: This specific terminal [C] was capturing the lessons learned from the terminal up there in the north part of the campus that is 40-plus years old. What are things that are the pressure points that people have? What are the things that raise a little bit of anxiety if you’re coming to the airport? In the design of this facility, it was to raise the ceiling and open things up, provide more restrooms, [and] all those things that really then lowers that stress level.

You’ll see very soon, our baggage system was designed with an early bag storage facility, and we’re getting ready to implement self bag-drop here [in terminal C]. So someone who comes to the airport early because their cruise is done or vacations is done, they can just seamlessly introduce that bag into the system, the early bag storage will store it for them, and when their flight is ready it’ll send it to the gate.

Edwards: We’ve now been operating for four years [in south Florida] and we’ve carried over 5 million passengers in that timeframe. And that doesn’t just mean that it’s a good business scenario. It’s a great sustainability effort. We’ve got 79,000 tons of greenhouse emissions that have already been removed from the environment. That’s huge. And so all those cars off the road remove congestion, create a much better experience, and people are less stressed.

Thibaoult: Last year, we finished the year just under 58 million passengers, so more than Miami or any other airport in the state. And thank goodness that we opened up Terminal C, because we could not handle that kind of volume using the [older] terminals today. So by introducing a new terminal, it gives us the opportunity to spread passengers to different locations and we continue to do that. Later this year, just in the next couple of months, we’re going to bring some more airlines down to this terminal, again to help spread that load.

We’ve been talking with our TSA [Transportation Security Administration] partners about [the self-service security screening being tested in Vegas]. The unique aspect of Orlando is I have a lot more strollers than Vegas, and so that is a little bit of a wrinkle. Our TSA security director goes to his peers around the country and says “I have more wheelchairs and strollers that you will ever see in your lifetime, just in a year.” … Those are the things that we continue to work with TSA and say, “Hey, we’re unique in a lot of different ways. Help us, and perhaps we can set the standard for what you will allow in other locations.”

Edwards: In September, we opened our Orlando station here. It was a phenomenal experience [and] it created a moment in history. But we’re continuing to make history with those additional load factors of people that we’re bringing in. They are trying Brightline for the first time; they’ve never thought of a train as a mode of transportation outside of Europe or other types of areas. And they’re now saying, “This is how I want to get from the south Florida region to Central Florida. There’s a huge influx of guests that are coming from Miami, they’ve been riding on Brightline for a while, using it maybe for a commute [or] different types of purposes, but now they’re actually coming in and spending a weekend here. So our ridership on Thursdays all the way through Monday have continued to outpace our expectations.

The first thing that people say when they ride the train is “wow, it is so clean, I can eat off of these floors. It smells good!” And so we actually developed our own Brightline scented candle, because we have our own scents that we’ve actually branded and put in all of our stations. People are buying a candle from a transportation experience. When was the last time you rode on an airplane and wanted that smell in your house? This is a very different level of polish.

Brightline is more than just even Florida. We’re getting to the point where we’re going to be shovel-ready for a line that’s actually going to be Los Angeles to Las Vegas … We partner with Bags Inc., a globally recognized baggage operator, and we’re working with them to envision a future where you can have a plane-to-train seamless experience with bags. We also want to have train-to-cruise, so you can have your bags show up in your stateroom as a whole seamless experience.

Thibault: The surge of local passenger point-of-sale from Orlando has created a large parking need in this airport. And so we can continue to add garages, but I’ve got to leverage the assets that I already have. Again, lowering that stress coming to an airport, so just this last week we introduced reserved parking in our [Terminal] C garage here. So using our mobile app, you can get on there and connect, and reserve up to a year in advance of their trip. So if you’ve booked your trip on any of the airlines, you know when you’re traveling, now you can actually book your reservation for parking. [Reserved Terminal C parking currently costs $32 per day.]

Edwards: We have 16 departures per day that gives us 32 trips back and forth from Orlando to Miami. So hourly, different ways to kind of get guests moving and make sure that it’s convenient. You could walk up to the terminal within 20 minutes of the train parting and buy a ticket, get on it and be on your way. Weather can sometimes be a concern here, and the train can get through rain [when] sometimes planes aren’t able to take off as easily. And then additionally, we’ve had safety concerns in the airline industry with the 737 Max, [so] people were then taking the train because they knew that was a reliable way to kind of get back and forth. Generally what we’re seeing is we’re actually not a competition to the airline. We’re really complementing what is there and making sure that we can add that additional capacity.

Thibault: At most of the airports, including here, the international [visitor] return back to pre-pandemic levels was lagging the domestic. We way exceeded our domestic number that was back in 2019, and we have now gotten back basically to our international numbers, and continue to grow. The mix is still strongly British and U.K., as well as Brazilian and other markets in South America; you see the Columbian market growing. And clearly, even though we don’t notice it or recognize it that much, the Canadian market is doing quite a bit here as well.

Edwards: Brightline actually carries a lot of international travelers as well. We’ve got guests that are actually coming from up to 139 different countries … When it comes to our expansion, and you know, the first thing that we’re focused on is taking the lines that have already been created, so there will be a Treasure Coast station. It is imminent; we’re working on the site planning for that and we hope to actually start construction on that even this year. So there’s a lot of pieces that will be announced on that front you know, going towards the areas between West Palm Beach and Orlando. As you go west, Tampa is on our vision, it’s exactly where we want to be. There’s a lot of pieces to set the roadwork there, and the railways to actually get through Orlando, and work together with our partners to build that. But we’ve already got identified where we want to be in Ybor City.

Thibault: Yes, [Terminal C moving walkways are] coming soon! Each moving walkway is designed and built for [custom] dimensions. So the provider there is developing as we speak. It’ll come in this year; the goal is this year. What they’re doing now is laying it out so that the power and all those other connections are then ready for them when they bring it in to install. As well as the pedestrian bridge; today, the passenger has to go a little different route [from Terminal C to Brightline]. There’s going to be a seamless connection later this year in the fall, where there’s a pedestrian bridge that connects Terminal C to the train station. And in that piece, as well as a portion of the piece that’s already here today. There’ll be moving walkways as well.

The Orlando Plaza Premium Lounge, which is the second and largest American location for the global chain, features spacious seating areas for families and business travelers, complimentary snacks and drinks, and even shower facilities. Guests can access the the lounge by walking in or reserving online. Day passes start at $69 (plus tax and fees) for 3 hours, or you can purchase a PPL Pass Americas or show a participating card (Amex, Capital One, DragonPass, Priority Pass, LoungeKey and Visa) in order to enter.