Walkways too long at airport’s Terminal C?
Changes could be afoot in face of gripes
Orlando airport leaders boasted that their $3 billion Terminal C would bring uproars of wow when it opened late last year.
It has, and continues to, but not always in a complimentary way.
“You clearly have not had to fly into this ill-conceived monstrosity,” said Dan Fry, a frequent flier, responding to an Orlando Sentinel article about Terminal C’s soaring architecture and natural light. “Who in the hell designs a modern airport this way???”
His and many others’ beef: long walks to and from the JetBlue concourse and grinding — for some mobility challenged passengers — slogs up a series of ramps to the terminal’s top floor and international arrivals area.
“The lack of a tram, people movers or shuttles makes it a chore for older adults and parents with young children,” said Vincent Smith of The Villages. “If there is any transport provided, it is not readily apparent.”
The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which runs the airport, has heard the complaints and has begun to examine potential remedies, including a big one: reversing a 2017 decision to opt out of installing moving sidewalks seen in almost every big airport except Orlando’s.
There is no timeline or specific solution proposed — the authority has just begun to consider how to respond to complaints.
At the same time, authority leadership anticipates a rise in public acceptance that the new terminal’s layout and aesthetic were meant as an intentional pivot away from the 1980s vintage of the old terminals and toward a design fitting for decades to come.
“The whole concept of what Terminal C is providing is quite
different from terminals A and B, and no one will dispute that,” said Kevin Thibault, authority chief executive officer and airport director.
A key difference is that terminals A and B rely on short rides on shuttle trains to carry passengers for part of their journeys from arrivals curbs and ticket counters to airline gates.
Terminal C has no such shuttles, not yet anyway.
The result is a walk of about a quarter-mile at the longest in A and B, and about a half-mile at the longest in C.
When designers began to pull together a vision for the nearly 2 million square feet of Terminal C, Thibault said, they accounted for the greater walking distance by including moving sidewalks in the long hallway to the array of gates belonging to JetBlue.
But just as construction was beginning in 2017, the airport authority came down with a case of cost jitters and ordered a round of budget cuts. The hallway to JetBlue was narrowed by 10 feet, according to the airport authority.
As a result of that cost cutting, “the moving sidewalks were removed because conventional standards dictated they would not fit,” Thibault said. “What we are now doing is challenging those conventions and seeing how we could do a retrofit.”
Another form of relief for long walks is years away. As Terminal C grows into its next phases, tracks and stops for shuttle trains will be installed along the major corridors of gates. As early as this year, the aviation authority will consider kicking off early design work for terminal expansion.
From interviews at Terminal C and comments on social media, frustration with long walks may best be described as coming from a
minority of travelers.
A number of fliers reaching out to the Orlando Sentinel said they will not travel again with JetBlue, which is the anchor tenant and only U.S. carrier among the dozen airlines at the new terminal, and will only book in the future with airlines at terminals A and B.
In November, JetBue accommodated 425,000 passengers at Terminal C.
On the social media platform Nextdoor, there was a recent series of comments reacting to criticism of Terminal C.
“I have flown out of terminal C several times now and absolutely love it. To each their own,” stated the first entry.
“Same,” came a rejoinder. “I thought it was great.
Maybe it depends on where your gate is.”
That was followed by: “Agree! It’s a beautiful terminal and easy to get around.”
And then: “Maybe they can add the movable walkway?”
And finally: “Guess it’s a matter of perception. I personally flew out of terminal C at least 6 times this month and found it to be a work in progress. Getting better every day. More businesses are opening up within the terminal, less crowded and extremely clean.”
Orlando’s airport has always been a work in progress.
At nearly 40 years old, the north terminal complex of A and B has been tweaked, overhauled and expanded often over the years at considerable cost. It used to have moving sidewalks, but they were removed in 2016, despite protests from older passengers, to make the place roomier near stores and eateries.
The airport’s leadership says it listens to passenger opinions and concerns, which can be sent to orlandoairports.net/feedback/