Gotta Go Orlando
- Mar 4

Busiest Spring Break ever expected at Orlando International Airport!

Spring Break is already in full bloom at Orlando International Airport with the airport sharing tips to keep your adventures sunny and bright!

Spring is in the air and Orlando International Airp0=ort is bracing itself for its busiest spring Break ever, with more passengers expected to travel through the airport in the coming weeks than at any other time!

With Spring Break 2024 upon us, MCO is expecting a record 11 percent increase in passengers over the previous record set last year and is offering advice to make traveling through the airport as smooth and easy as possible.

“We expect to set a new Spring Break benchmark with more than 7.6 million passengers,” said Kevin J. Thibault, Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “This growth is actually a continuation of what we saw in 2023. For the year, we shattered all passenger records with more than 57.7 million travelers.”

Like the holiday season, MCO is asking passengers to follow the 3-2-1 rule which can help ease travel. Arrive at your airline ticket counter at least 3 hours in advance. Head to security processing at least 2 hours prior to departure and arrive at your gate at least 1 hour prior to boarding. Also, always remember to pack your patience and never bring weapons through the security checkpoint.

As MCO continues to welcome record numbers of travelers, parking is always at a premium in the airport, and to help ease the pain, MCO recently opened three new surface lots to respond to parking needs.

The lots are accessible with E-Pass and SunPass Plus. SunPass customers must be enrolled with Easy Pay, and a transponder must be used to enter and exit the lots.

A new Reserved Parking program works by allowing passengers to log in to Reserved Parking at MCO or use the MCO mobile app in advance of their arrival to the airport, punch in their vehicle information, make a payment and receive a QR code for easy access to Level 4 of Parking Garage C.

Currently the program is only operational in Garage C on Level 4. Space is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis for approximately 715 spots during the rollout of this program. The cost is $32 per day.

The Spring Break season stretches for 44-days this year from Saturday February 24 until Sunday April 7

Easter Sunday falls early this year, on March 31, and is anticipated to be the 8th busiest travel day this season.

The following are the projected ten busiest Spring Break days at Orlando International.

Saturday, March 23: 197,697
Saturday, March 31: 197,401
Saturday, March 16: 196,920
Saturday, March 9: 194,649
Sunday, March 10: 191,788
Sunday, March 17: 191,146
Sunday, March 10: 190,742
Sunday, March 31: 189,946
Friday, March 29: 188,977
Friday, March 15: 188,146

2023 Record Year at MCO

This year’s Spring Break record comes on the heels of another record-setting year at Orlando International Airport.

All the numbers are in and in 2023, MCO experienced a 15 percent increase in overall traffic, bringing the total number of passengers to an historic 57.7 million for the year.

International traffic completely rebounded to pre-pandemic levels with 26.7 percent growth and 7 million travelers, while domestic traffic continued to reach new highs topping 50.7 million passengers, which is a 13.6 percent increase.

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