Holiday weekend brings more travelers through Orlando International Airport

Air travel showing some signs of life

There were only about half as many passengers at Orlando International Airport were traveling this Labor Day compared to last year, but traffic has increased over the summer.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Officials at Orlando International Airport reported an uptick in passenger traffic, Monday, as the holiday weekend brought visitors back to Central Florida.

The airport was recorded as the sixth busiest airport in the nation for departing passengers on Labor Day.

Traffic is still not back to normal levels, especially for a holiday weekend.

The airport expected 25,595 people traveling through Monday, compared to last year’s 52,301 passengers.

However, the numbers are still an improvement when compared to traffic in March and April.

Dr. Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Forecasting at the University of Central Florida, said this is good news for the area.

The airport is a big contributor to the local economy.

“A lot of jobs are at the airport in supporting the airlines in processing passengers, vendors, concessions,” he said. “On top of that, the airports in the midst of major construction. It has contracts and relationships with different suppliers, and so there’s a ripple effect in a negative sense whenever the airport is low on passenger traffic.”

Dr. Snaith said an economic rebound in the area is underway.

“Central Florida and statewide we’re out of the recession that was caused by the lockdowns,” he said.