Orlando International Airport says they are ready for upcoming travel season

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - Going into the all-important summer travel season, airport officials are saying record numbers of passengers took to the skies from Orlando International Airport, which is Florida’s busiest airport.

A record breaking number of 72 million people visited Orlando last year. That's compared to 68 million in New York City and 42 million in Las Vegas.

Officials say travel was up more than 7% in March, with more than 4.4 million passengers. This included international visitors, with overseas flights seeing more than 12% more traffic.

Overall for the first quarter, they saw similar numbers, with a jump of nearly 8% in total passengers - more than 12 million visitors, and more than 13% boost in people coming from overseas.

Airport officials said they're ready to handle these hoards, with construction in the terminal that they said is moving well, and set to wrap up in the mid-summer. It’s good news for people like Lenita Davis, visiting from Houston, who gave the airport her top score.

“Oh it's been a 'ten,' so far,” Davis said, “we've been here about an hour and a half, so it's been a 'ten!'”

Along with more passengers the airport is also seeing more flights, with airlines expanding their service in the US to Atlanta and Richmond from Orlando, and overseas flights bound for Belfast and Amsterdam.