Sanford airport ready for its 3 millionth passenger
Once-tiny airport will see $60.6 million renovation by late 2020
Gary Walker has flown out of Orlando Sanford International Airport to Mississippi nearly every month for years. It’s a no-hassle routine. The Titusville resident is dropped off by a family member, checks his bags, gets through security in short order and is on his way to the gate for his nonstop Allegiant Air flight to Gulfport, Miss.
“I can quickly roll in here. Zip right through, and I’m on my way,” Walker, 62, said on a recent morning while waiting for his flight so he can visit his second home in central Mississippi. He calculated it would
take him more than an hour longer if he used the far busier and larger Orlando International Airport 30 miles away.
Walker is among a fastgrowing number of Central Florida travelers who prefer flying from the small Sanford airport, which is on pace to handle 3 million passengers for the first time this year, airport officials announced this week. That’s a nearly 3 percent jump from last year and a 63 percent increase from 2008.
“In 2013, we reached 2 million passengers and that was a great achievement for us, and we were very excited about that,” said Diane Crews, the airport’s president and chief executive officer. “Now here we are, just five years later, reaching 3 million. … So we’re very excited about our growth.”
Airport officials are considering holding a celebration in the airport when that 3 millionth passenger walks through.
Crews said she expects the passenger count at the Sanford airport to continue to grow about 5 percent annually.
To accommodate that passenger growth, the airport is undergoing a $60.6 million renovation project that will add nearly 50,000 square feet of space, including four new gates, three new baggage carousels, more parking spaces and an extended exterior canopy to accommodate passengers when they are being dropped off. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.
Officials said they also plan to expand the airport’s currently sparse dining and shopping venues.
Plans also are in the works for Marriott to open a Fairfield Inn of up to 120 rooms by the end of 2020 on a 3-acre site on the airport property between State Road 46 and East Lake Mary Boulevard.
It’s not just the Sanford airport that is experiencing growth. Airports across the country are also expanding to keep up with soaring number of passengers because of low fares and more international travelers.
OIA — which is on pace to handle a record 47 million
passengers annually this year and has become the state’s busiest airport — is in the middle of a $4.2 billion project that will add a new terminal by 2021.
Elsewhere, Tampa International is undergoing a $1 billion expansion of its main terminal, rental-car space and automated shuttle. Miami International is renovating its concourses and terminal spaces as part of a $1.5 billion project. In Chicago, O’Hare International is about to kick off an $8.7 billion expansion that will add dozens of new gates, concourses and a 3.3 million square feet of terminal space.
Allegiant, based in Las Vegas, is the dominant airline at the Sanford airport, flying to 78 destinations in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The other airlines are Surinam Airways, which flies to Aruba, Guyana and Suriname; Tui, which travels to The Netherlands; and Via Air, which flies to nine U.S. destinations.
However, Allegiant faced controversy after a scathing “60 Minutes” report in April that blasted the discount carrier’s safety record. Sanford airport officials later released a statement saying that they have “total confidence in the FAA,” which revealed no problems with the airline.
Crews said Sanford airport officials are working toward luring in more airlines.
“We do have an aggressive air service development strategy,” she said without releasing further details. “But it’s something that takes years.”
Crews credits the airport’s high-flying popularity with its ease of use for travelers.
“It’s an airport that is easy to get into, easy to get out and it’s conveniently located,” she said. “We’re close to the parks and the beaches.”
Flier Holly Sprinker of Gainesville agreed. She recently arrived from a roundtrip Allegiant flight from Asheville, N.C., and was waiting in the Sanford airport’s terminal for a friend to pick her up. She planned to fly back to Asheville from Sanford in the coming days.
“I picked this airport because it’s so much easier,” Sprinkler, 37, said. “It’s so much quicker.”