OIA braces for hit to passenger volume
Orlando International Airport is bracing for a slowdown in the hoped-for summer rebound of tourists and other passengers because of the state’s record-setting spike in coronavirus cases.
“We’ve seen press reports today and we’ve been notified that Delta and Spirit among others are going to be pulling seats out of the market in August,” airport director Phil Brown said Wednesday during a Greater Orlando Aviation Authority board meeting.
“Bookings in August are becoming much more soft principally as we understand it because of the increase in COVID cases in Florida,” Brown said.
Delta officials clarified Wednesday afternoon that the airline does not plan to reduce flights in August but will shrink its previously planned increase of nearly 1,000 flights a day across its network next month to an increase of about 500 flights a day. The airline now has about 2,300 flights daily, which is down 65 percent from last summer.
“Delta continues to evaluate its summer schedule and is adjusting as needed based on customer demand, government travel directives and CDC guidelines,” the airline said in a statement.
The Florida-based Spirit did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The airline had announced with fanfare in June that it would rapidly restore service through July.
The airline had cut back to as few as 50 flights daily by early May but with June’s announcement had planned to return to 550 flights a day by this month across its U.S., Latin America and Caribbean service area. Orlando is Spirit’s second-busiest destination.
Early this year, Orlando’s airport was handling nearly 70,000 outbound passengers a day. That volume dropped to a few thousand a day in April but has rebounded to a current rate of about 18,000 to 20,000 outbound passengers a day, Brown said.
The upward trajectory may leave the airport with an annual total of 29 million passengers at the end of the fiscal year in September. That would be above the 25 million predicted during the depths of the pandemic-triggered collapse in air travel in April. At the beginning of the year, the airport’s rate was more than 50 million a year.
Brown said the pandemic’s uncertainties have made predicting passenger volumes “not a science anymore, it’s more of an art.”
The financial hit on the airport is becoming more apparent.
“We are really trying to get a handle on our cash flow,” Brown said. “I’ve seen a report produced in finance, it’s not audited, but our cash flow for the month of June is negative $20 million.”
Operating in the red plays into the airport’s calculation for relief to airlines, car-rental companies and a variety of concessionaires.
So far, the airport has agreed to nearly $30 million in deferrals and waivers of rents and fees.
The airport has provided $13 million in relief for airlines, a figure that includes $5.5 million for Southwest Airlines and $2.3 million for United Airlines.
Among car-rental companies, Enterprise has received $6.7 million in relief, while other companies are negotiating for nearly $9 million in relief.
Restaurants and retailers have received nearly $9.5 million in relief.
Brown said that relief for airport tenants will continue to be a pressing matter and the airport authority will have to determine what it can afford to offer going forward.
In April, the airport was allocated $171 million in federal assistance for pandemic relief. Brown said most of that money will be applied to paying off debt for airport construction.
He said that if further relief is provided to airlines, rental-car companies and concessionaires, “then we are going to have spend our cash,” a move that could test the financially viability of the airport.
Worried about losing passenger confidence, airport board members reinforced the requirement for all people at the airport to wear a mask or other type of face covering.
Previously, a city rule required all airport employees to wear a face covering, a county rule required passengers to do so in the terminal and in gates, and all airlines serving Orlando require masks inside of airplanes.
“Who would be walking around without a mask?” asked Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, an airport board member.
“There are people who just don’t do it,” Brown replied.
The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority board then approved its own rule that all people in the airport – with exceptions for small children and for some health conditions – wear masks.