Orlando airport ranks high for affordable international flights
Orlando’s airport ranks among the nation’s most affordable for international flights, eclipsing peers in Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas and Charlotte and even bigger airports such as Atlanta’s, according to Scott’s Cheap Flights.
“Orlando is not by any stretch one of the biggest cities in the nation and yet is one of the top cities for cheap flights,” said the service’s chief executive officer, Scott Keyes. “It’s such a popular destination.”
The region’s flood of tourism plays a key role in fares for international flights to and from Orlando’s airport. More travelers means more flights, which means more competition and choices, Keyes said.
Orlando International Airport reported last month that the number of international passengers so far this year has been climbing at rate of about 20 percent over the same period last year, while the count for domestic passengers has climbed by about 5 percent.
Also rising is the number of high-profile foreign carriers with service to Orlando. Last month, Aerolineas Argentinas announced that it will provide nonstop flights from Buenos Aires to Orlando three times a week from December through March.
Next week, El Al Israel Airlines will began three months of service with weekly, nonstop flights to Orlando — one of nine U.S. cities to be served by the carrier.
“Orlando is a great destination for the Israeli market,” Joyce Schoonenberg-Reed, an El Al regional sales manager. “It’s very popular.”
The internet-based Scott’s Cheap Flights , with free and premium memberships, issues alerts on bargain fares for international destinations. The report draws from 7,000 such notices last year pegged to more than 150 airports. Also in the report’s top 10 were the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.
Tourism officials announced in May that the region had a record 75 million visitors in 2018.
Orlando International Airport ranked last year as 10-busiest in the nation, handling 47.7 million passengers; Miami ranked 13th with 45 million and Fort Lauderdale was 18th with 36 million.
In the Scott’s Cheap Flights report, Miami ranked 7th, Orlando 9th and Fort Lauderdale 10th in the number of bargain alerts for international flights in 2018.
Getting the highest rank was JFK in New York City, followed by Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Newark, O’Hare in Chicago. Dulles in Virginia rank 8th.
His service issues alerts for both nonstop flights and those requiring a connection through a hub city.
Other factors help hold down costs.
Orlando’s airport is not dominated by an airline hub such as that of American in Charlotte or Delta in Atlanta.
“Atlanta has a much bigger population than Orlando. But because of the Delta monopoly there they don’t have as much incentive to offer cheap flights,” Keyes said. ‘There tends to be fewer cheap flights overall where as in Orlando there is no airline that has an overwhelming monopoly on flights.”
Keyes said that airlines do attempt to poach each other’s frequent fliers by periodically offering bargain fares for international flights from rivals’ hub cities.
Attractive fares result when airlines “attack” each other’s hubs, Keyes said. “But over 12 months, Atlanta and Charlotte won’t get as many cheap flights as they would if there weren’t monopolies there.”
Though without a hub for domestic airlines, Orlando is served by a host of foreign carriers that offer nonstop flights in competition with U.S. airlines that provide international service through a connecting city such as Charlotte, Miami or Atlanta.
According to Orlando International Airport data, 39 airlines, including British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates and Norwegian provided nonstop flights to foreign destinations during the past year.
Of those, the top five for number of passengers were: Virgin with 834,783 passengers, JetBlue with 785,028, Air Canada with 737,761, Copa with 468,179 and WestJet with 453,841 passengers.
Keyes said foreign carriers often are focused on the market inbound to Orlando but want to ensure their planes are full and will offer more affordable fares for people outbound from the region.
Scott’s Cheap Flights does not send alerts for budget airlines such as Spirit, Frontier or Allegiant, for last-minute flights or for flights with difficult and prolonged routes.
At the other end of the list, airport’s in Greensboro, N.C., Panama City and Grand Rapids, Mich., had the least number of cheap flights to foreign destinations.