At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Orlando International Airport was projecting approximately 25-26 million passengers would choose their airport’s services for the year. After months of slowly rebounding air service, from a number of carriers, MCO is now reporting more than 29 million travelers have passed through their gates, a reduction of 41 percent from last year. That’s better than expected, but there’s a long way to go.

“The reality is, our fiscal year-end numbers show we have a long way to go to get back to where we were pre-pandemic”, says Phil Brown, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “While we have made some progress, we must continue to look for ways to build upon our traffic and instill customer confidence in the safety of air travel at Orlando International.”

Current Thanksgiving holiday travel data reflects continued growth and confidence in the market with a handful of the 12 travel days estimated to reach 40,000 departing passengers. The busiest day will be this coming Sunday, the 29th. MCO has frequently ranked in the top 5 busiest airports in the nation in the number of departing passengers.

Fiscal Year 2020 Statistical Data:

  • For the 2020 fiscal year, domestic passenger traffic declined 39.04 percent to 25,959,044 travelers at MCO
  • International traffic was down 56.96 percent with 3,108,943 total passengers
  • Combined, overall traffic was off 41.64 percent for FY20 with 29,067,987 travelers moving through MCO
  • Postal service activity increased 61.96 percent for FY20

September 2020 Statistical Data:

  • In September domestic traffic was down 57.6 percent with 1,152,137 passengers at Orlando International
  • International passenger volume was off 97.13 percent with only 13,813 international arrivals and departures at MCO
  • Overall, September travel volume dropped 63.54 percent with a combined 1,165,950 passengers at Orlando International
  • Month over month improvement was notable, as the average rate of decline improved from 72.76 percent in August to 63.54 percent in September