Orlando International Airport moves into busy holiday travel season

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando International Airport (MCO) is expected to be a busy place during the holiday season.

The combination of upcoming football games, theme parks and the nice weather is attracting big crowds to the area.

The busier-than-normal time runs from now through Jan. 5, with Dec. 28 expected to be the busiest travel day at the airport.

Greater Orlando Aviation Authority’s Angela Bryant Starke says get to the airport early.

“What we are advising the passengers is to be at the airport two hours before they can check their bags and move through the TSA checkpoint,” she said. “If you don’t have MCO Reserve and you don’t have TSA Pre-Check, that is when you are going to need that extra time. If you do have those services, it helps to speed up the trip.” 

Orlando is ranked a top 10 global travel destination for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. 

Officials anticipate Saturday, Dec. 28 to see more than 192,000 total arrivals and departures.

Melbourne resident Anton Quiroz, traveling to the islands for the holidays, says he booked a parking spot online and thinks it saved him some time.

“I think the reservation helped, which I will probably do that next time also,” he said.

Tiffany Eckford and her family got to the airport early on Sunday after spending three days at Disney and is heading back to Arkansas.

Eckford was expecting long lines.

“It was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I was expecting complete chaos,” said Eckford.

During this 17-day period, MCO is expecting 2.9 million passengers, a slight increase of 1 percent over 2023’s record numbers.