
The newest addition at Orlando International Airport is missing a key component needed by travelers visiting the busiest airport in the Sunshine State.
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MCO’s new Terminal C is a breathtakingly beautiful addition to the airport. The state-of-the-art complex is the product of decades of planning and more than five years of construction. The $2.8 billion addition houses ten different airline carriers, including Aer Lingus, Azul, British Airways, Emirates, Caribbean, Gol, Icelandair, JetBlue, Lufthansa, and Norse Airlines, and has 15 gates that can accommodate a total of 20 aircraft.
Terminal C also boasts 80,000 square feet of “concessions space,” which includes Barnie’s Coffee & Tea Co., Provisions by Cask & Larder, Cucina & Co., Orlando Brewing Bar & Bites, Wine Bar George, Olde Hearth Bread Co., Sunshine Diner by Chef Art Smith, Orange County Brewers, Raw Juice, and Cask & Larder Public House. There are also unique offerings in shopping and a massive state-of-the-art media display.
But for all Orlando International’s beautiful new Terminal C offers, the new passenger-friendly complex is missing a very important feature, especially for passengers who choose to fly with Jetblue. In fact, those passengers would do well to wear a supportive pair of running shoes during their flights so that when they land at MCO, they won’t have to add achy feet to their post-flight woes.
That’s because the new Terminal C has no moving walkways. It’s a massive space, but there isn’t a single moving walkway to be found. Jetblue passengers have a long walk ahead of them, as many of them say it takes them more than 15 minutes to walk to the furthest gate in the terminal because it is often a walk of approximately half a mile.
And according to some passengers, that walk can feel even longer, depending on how much luggage they’re lugging around, and whether they’re pushing a stroller as well.
But according to the CEO of Orlando International Airport, Kevin Thibault, this was never supposed to be the way things worked in the new sunlight-filled terminal.
“From the inception of the project, in keeping with the strategic plan, and in a value-engineering focus, GOAA made cognizant efforts to stay within budget,” Thibault said. “In the architecture of record’s report in 2017, the walkways were reduced by 10 feet. As a result, the moving sidewalks were removed because conventional standards dictated they would not fit.”
Thibault went on to say that MCO is currently looking into ways to install moving walkways now.
“What we are now doing is challenging those conventions and seeing how we could do a retrofit,” Thibault said.
It’s not clear at this time whether such a retrofit is possible, so we will continue to monitor this story as it develops.