Military years : The airfield was originally constructed as a
U.S. Army Air Forces facility and military operations began in 1942 as
Orlando Army Air Field #2, an auxiliary airfield to
Orlando Army Air Base, now known as
Orlando Executive Airport. Orlando Army Air Field #2 was renamed
Pinecastle Army Airfield in January 1943. At the end of
World War II, Pinecastle was briefly used for unpowered glide tests of the
Bell X-1 from
B-29 aircraft before the program moved to Muroc Army Airfield in California– now
Edwards AFB – for the world's first supersonic flight. With the establishment of an independent
U.S. Air Force in 1947, the airfield was briefly placed in caretaker status, until being reactivated during the
Korean War as a
Strategic Air Command (SAC) facility for
B-47 Stratojets and
KC-97 Stratofreighters and renamed
Pinecastle AFB. In the 1950s, the base began hosting SAC's annual Bombing and Navigation Competition. A
B-47 Stratojet crashed during the 1958 competition, killing Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy, commander of the
321st Bombardment Wing, which was the host wing for Pinecastle AFB. The following year the base was renamed for McCoy. The base later was home to the
306th Bombardment Wing operating the
B-52 Stratofortress and the
KC-135 Stratotanker. It was also used by
EC-121 Warning Star early warning aircraft of the
966th Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron, a tenant unit at McCoy assigned to the
Aerospace Defense Command. During the
Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, McCoy AFB became a temporary forward operating base for more than 120
F-100 Super Sabre and
F-105 Thunderchief fighter bombers and the primary base for
U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flying over Cuba. One of these U-2s was shot down by Soviet-operated
SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missiles near Banes, Cuba. Its pilot, Major
Rudolf Anderson Jr., USAF, was the crisis' only combat death. Following the crisis, McCoy AFB hosted a permanent U-2 operating detachment of the
100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing until 1973. McCoy AFB was identified for closure in early 1973 as part of a post-Vietnam reduction in force. The following year, McCoy's
306th Bombardment Wing was inactivated, its
B-52D Stratofortress and
KC-135A Stratotanker aircraft reassigned to other SAC units and most of the McCoy AFB facility turned over to the city of Orlando by the
General Services Administration (GSA) in late 1974 and early and mid 1975. USAF responsibility for the airfield's air traffic control tower was turned over to the
Federal Aviation Administration (
FAA) and the airport established its own crash, fire and rescue department, initially utilizing equipment transferred by the GSA.
Civil-military years In the early 1960s, when jet airline flights came to Orlando, the installation became a joint civil-military facility. Early jetliners such as the
Boeing 707,
Boeing 720,
Douglas DC-8 and
Convair 880 required longer and sturdier runways than the ones at Herndon Airport (now
Orlando Executive Airport). Nearby lakes and commercial and residential development made expansion impractical, so an agreement was reached between the
City of Orlando and the
United States Air Force in 1962 to use McCoy AFB under a joint arrangement. The military offered a large
AGM-28 Hound Dog missile maintenance hangar and its associated flight line ramp area in the northeast corner of the field for conversion into a civil air terminal. The city would then cover the cost of building a replacement missile maintenance hangar on the main base's western flight line. The new civil facility would be known as the
Orlando Jetport at McCoy and would operate alongside McCoy AFB. This agreement became a model for other joint civil-military airports in operation today. Airline flights to the Orlando Jetport began shortly after an agreement was signed by the city and USAF in October 1961. Over the next few years airline flights shifted from the old Herndon Airport (renamed in 1982 as the
Orlando Executive Airport). In 1971 scheduled airlines were
Delta Air Lines,
Eastern Air Lines,
National Airlines and
Southern Airways. The 1971 opening of
Magic Kingdom at
Walt Disney World led to a significant increase in air travel as Orlando became a major tourist destination. For much of the 1970s,
Shawnee Airlines would directly link MCO with
Walt Disney World using
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter commuter aircraft. These connecting flights flew from MCO to the
Walt Disney World STOL Airport, a small, short-lived airfield near the Magic Kingdom's parking lot.
Deregulation of the airline industry in 1978 also contributed to increases in air service to Orlando. When McCoy AFB closed in 1975, part of the facility stayed under military control to support Naval Training Center Orlando and several tenant commands until NTC Orlando was closed in 1999 pursuant to a post-
Cold War 1993
BRAC Commission decision. There are only a few enclaves on the original McCoy AFB site that the military still uses such as the
164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade from the
Florida Army National Guard in the former McCoy AFB Officers Club complex, an
Army Reserve intelligence unit in the former SAC Alert Facility, the
1st Lieutenant David R. Wilson Armed Forces Reserve Center supporting multiple units of the
Army Reserve,
Navy Reserve and
Marine Corps Reserve that was constructed in 2002, and a large
Navy Exchange for active, reserve and retired military personnel and their dependents.
Civil years In 1975, the final Air Force contingent departed McCoy AFB and the
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) was established as a state-chartered local governmental agency and an enterprise fund of the city of Orlando. GOAA's mission was to operate, manage and oversee construction of expansions and improvements to both the Orlando International Airport and the Orlando Executive Airport. The airport gained its current name and international airport status a year later in 1976 but retained its old IATA airport code MCO and
ICAO airport code KMCO. The airport became a U.S. Customs Service Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) in 1978, said zone being designated as FTZ #42. In 1979, the facility was also designated as a large hub airport by the FAA based on flight operations and passenger traffic. In 1978, construction of the current Landside Terminal and two Airsides on the west side of the terminal (known today as Airsides 1 and 3) began, opening in 1981. The terminal's layout was heavily based on the current terminal at
Tampa International Airport, which opened a decade prior. The original International Concourse was housed in Airside 1 and opened in 1984. Funding to commence developing the east side of the airport was bonded in 1986, with Runway 17/35 (now 17R/35L) completed in 1989. Airside 4 opened in 1990 and also contains an International Concourse for the processing of international flights. Airside 2, which filled out what will become known as the North Terminal complex, was completed in 2000, with the last additional gates added in 2006. Runway 17L/35R was opened in 2003, providing the airport with a total of four runways. In 1978, the airport handled nearly 5.2 million
passengers. By 2018, that number had risen to 47.7 million. Presently, it is the fifth-largest airport in the United States by land area after
Denver International Airport,
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,
Southwest Florida International Airport, and
Washington Dulles International Airport. At 11,605 acres, MCO has a larger footprint than
John F. Kennedy International Airport,
Miami International Airport, and
Heathrow Airport combined. MCO has North America's fourth tallest
control tower at 345 feet, replacing two earlier Air Force and FAA control towers. Orlando was a designated
Space Shuttle emergency landing site. The west-side runways, Runway 18L/36R and Runway 18R/36L, were designed for
B-52 Stratofortress bombers, and due to their proximity to
NASA's
John F. Kennedy Space Center, were an obvious choice for an emergency landing should an emergency return to launch site (RTLS) attempt to land at KSC have fallen short. The runway was also an emergency divert site for NASA's
Boeing 747 Shuttle Transport Aircraft when relocating orbiters from either west coast modification work or divert recoveries at
Edwards AFB, California or the
White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Eastern Air Lines used Orlando as a focus city during the 1970s and early 1980s, and became "the official airline of
Walt Disney World." Following Eastern's demise,
Delta Air Lines assumed this role.
Delta Air Lines began operating a hub at MCO in 1987. Airside 4, which opened in 1990, was primarily designed for Delta's hub operation and it included a ramp tower, an international arrivals facility, and a wing for regional aircraft under the
people mover guideway. Delta would later pull much of its large aircraft from its hub operations and focused its service there on regional flights via their
Delta Connection affiliate
Comair. Comair operated intra-Florida flights as well as flights to other southeastern cities and to the Caribbean. In 2002,
Chautauqua Airlines replaced Comair as the primary
Delta Connection carrier at MCO. Delta closed the Orlando hub entirely in 2007. Orlando-based
AirTran Airways also operated a hub at MCO from 1993 until the airline's merger with Southwest Airlines in 2014. After Delta closed their hub in 2007, AirTran relocated their hub to Airside 4, using some of Delta's former gates which allowed them to double their capacity. AirTran merged with
Southwest Airlines in 2014, which is today the busiest carrier at MCO.
Saudi Arabian Airlines began service to Orlando in 1994. Its seasonal flights to Jeddah proved popular among Saudi tourists. Bookings declined after the
September 11 attacks, however, so Saudi Arabian terminated the link. On February 22, 2005, the airport became the first airport in Florida to accept
E-Pass and
SunPass toll transponders as a form of payment for parking. The system allows drivers to enter and exit a parking garage without pulling a ticket or stopping to pay the parking fee. The two toll roads that serve the airport,
SR 528 (Beachline Expressway) and
SR 417 (Central Florida GreeneWay), use these systems for
automatic toll collection. The original terminal building, a converted hangar, was described as inadequate for the task at hand even when it was first opened as Orlando Jetport. After its closure in 1981, it passed through several tenants, the last of which was
UPS. It was demolished in May 2006. On February 1, 2010,
Allegiant Air began operations at the airport. The company moved one half of its schedule from its operating base at nearby
SFB to MCO to test revenue at the higher cost airport. After evaluating the routes out of Orlando, the carrier decided to consolidate and return its Orlando area operations to SFB citing an inability to achieve a fare premium at MCO as anticipated, passenger preference for SFB, higher costs at MCO than expected and a more efficient operating environment at SFB. Allegiant Air resumed operating some flights at MCO in 2024. The airport had tried to attract Emirates for five years before the service was announced. Greater Orlando Aviation Association Chair Frank Kruppenbacher called the new service "without question the biggest, most significant move forward for our airport" and estimates that the local economic impact of the new service will be up to $100 million annually. The inaugural flight was made with an
Airbus A380. Regularly scheduled flights operate with Boeing
777-300ERs. Gate 90 was updated in the summer of 2018 with 3 jetways to be able to properly handle the A380, 3 years after the airplane first arrived at Orlando, docking at Gate 84. FlyMCO 105.1 HD2 provides access to airport information, local weather, and music. In 2017, the airport reached 44.6 million passengers, surpassing
Miami International Airport to become the busiest airport in the state of Florida. The
Orlando International Airport Intermodal Terminal, which was partially funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, opened in November 2017 and is connected to the Terminal A/B complex by
Terminal Link, an automated people mover. The $684 million station included a new 2,500 space parking garage (which would also be the parking garage for Terminal C), and the Orlando station for the
Brightline higher speed regional rail service to South Florida which began service in 2023. The station reused some of the plans of the Orlando Airport station of the now defunct
Florida High Speed Rail project. In May 2015, the Board of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority voted unanimously to approve construction of the $1.8 billion South Terminal Complex. Construction of the first phase of the South Terminal Complex, Terminal C, began in 2017. Terminal C opened on September 19, 2022, with 20 gates. Terminal C is connected to the
Orlando International Airport Intermodal Terminal, which provides a connection to Terminals A/B via the
Terminal Link people mover. On May 2, 2026,
Spirit Airlines, an
operating base at Orlando International Airport, ceased all operations.
Future There are plans to add an additional terminal, Terminal D, to the South Terminal Complex east of the Intermodal Terminal when the airport reaches 70 million passengers annually. The final estimated capacity of the airport is set at 100 million passengers annually when completed. When fully complete, the South Terminal Complex will have 120 gates in both terminals C and D. Currently, there are future plans in development to renovate the North Terminal in the Orlando International Airport, where Terminals A & B are located. Additionally, other projects are also in development alongside the renovation of the North Terminal. A new CONRAC is planned in the future, upgrades to the baggage handling systems, and other future upgrades are planned. The Orlando International Airport Intermodal Terminal was built to accommodate an extension of the
SunRail commuter rail service. The route to the current SunRail line would travel along an
Orlando Utilities Commission rail spur, before either branching off to the intermodal station, or have an intermediate transfer point on to light rail to complete the journey to this station. Additionally, a new vertiport is planned in the future into its multimodal hub. Multiple options are being considered for a link to
International Drive, either with
elevated maglev train system, connecting the airport to the
Orange County Convention Center, the
Florida Mall, and the
Sand Lake Road SunRail station, or a light rail link running along a similar route as the maglev alternative between the airport and International Drive. == Facilities ==