Long-Awaited, Much Longed-For MCO Addition Finally Completed

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When Orlando International Airport’s Terminal C opened in September 2022, it was a masterpiece of design and technology. Here’s our first look at the new terminal, just a day or two after its opening day.

The new terminal was almost perfect – it was big, bright, airy, you name it. However, it wasn’t perfect.

The Walkway Problem

This photo from roughly 2022 shows Terminal C around the time of its grand opening. The “Intermodal Terminal Facility” is “airportspeak” for where the Brightline Train stops, as does the monorail/people mover that connects Terminal C to the main building for Terminals A and B.

If you wanted to go from the Brightline train, or from Terminals A/B, to where the planes were at Terminal C, you had to walk through the Terminal C parking garage because, as you could see on the map, the walkway between the two hadn’t been built; it was going to be part of “Phase 1x” (as opposed to Phase 1).

Except, have you ever walked 450 feet in an open-air parking garage in Florida? Particularly in our 9 or so months of summer weather? While dragging luggage, no less? More often than not, it was a hot, humid mess. And we won’t even get into when we had our daily monsoon in the summer and the rain blew into the designated walking area of the garage.

Within 6 months of Terminal C opening, MCO was granted another $69 million to complete Terminal C. But that construction didn’t include the climate-controlled walkway that the terminal so desperately needed.

Finally, construction on the walkway began. However, it was a slow, painful process. In fact, when I went on my behind-the-scenes tour of MCO last month, the extremely slow speed of the project was mentioned as if it were a major sticking point for the airport muckety-mucks.

The Pedestrian Bridge Opens

But finally – FINALLY! – The project is complete, and the pedestrian bridge has officially opened. It offers a MUCH more comfortable pathway between Terminal C and the Brightline train station building. From MCO’s press release:

The long-awaited Pedestrian Bridge, with a set of bidirectional moving walkways, was in the original design for Terminal C but was removed as a cost-saving measure when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted construction projects at MCO and other airports.

Here’s some footage of the new walkway:

“The Pedestrian Bridge represents both progress and a promise,” said Lance Lyttle, CEO of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates Orlando International and Orlando Executive airports. “By opening this new access, we are delivering greater convenience to our passengers and meeting their expectations of a world-class airport.”

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