Airport to discuss Disney shuttles
OIA panel will open up about future of Magical Express service
Beth Kassab | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted March 14, 2006
After a three-month delay, the board that oversees Orlando International Airport on Wednesday will publicly discuss the future of Disney's Magical Express shuttle and baggage service.
But the details of the program's future are still being hammered out.
"We have some issues out on the table," Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Chairman Jeffry Fuqua said Monday. "We have told everybody that we would give them an opportunity to express their opinion. Who knows what effect that will have on the ultimate outcome."
Though Fuqua would not elaborate on the issues, the free service -- which has become a model nationally for moving passengers and luggage -- has been controversial because of its impact on rental-car companies and taxi and limo services. Some of those companies say they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in business, an outcome airport administrators feared even before the service began.
On Wednesday, the board expects to hear a presentation from its consultant Michael Brown. It will be the first time the airport will publicly present any information about Magical Express since the board delayed its original meeting to do so in December.
Since Magical Express began in May, it has transported more than 1.1 million passengers and their luggage between the Disney resort and the airport.
Rental-car companies and taxi and limo services pay a concession fee to the airport each month based on how much business they do. That means the airport can lose money if those businesses experience a downturn.
Disney said in December that the service boosted airport revenue by $1.6 million and has streamlined airport operations so well that it could delay the need for a costly second terminal building.
Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty said Monday that the company is still "continuing to have discussions with the airport" on a "wide range of issues" and would not discuss the future of the service.
Disney World President Al Weiss met with Fuqua last month on the matter.
Threats have loomed for months that Disney could stop the service if the airport makes it too expensive to operate. The 18-month pilot project -- recently touted by Disney President and CEO Robert Iger -- ends in December.
At stake is how much money Disney pays the airport per passenger it transports and whether the airport will require the service be operated on both sides of the terminal rather than just one as it is now.
The airlines have largely backed the program because it has reduced their baggage-handling loads and helped shorten ticket-counter lines.
But because a group of airlines is responsible for budget shortfalls at Orlando International, the carriers have also taken an intense interest.
"You had a difference of opinion at first of what the impacts might be financially," said Southwest Airlines Properties Manager Randy Gillespie, who also serves as chairman of an airlines committee. "All we're trying to do is separate fact from fiction."
As early as January 2005 -- about four months before Magical Express began -- then-Executive Director Bill Jennings and other senior airport staffers expressed concern about the services' anticipated impact.
Minutes from a meeting of airport staffers, airline executives and a Disney executive, show that Jennings told the airlines he expected the service to reach 2 million passengers a year and it could harm rental-car companies.
"The staff at the Aviation Authority found the concept attractive; however, there are serious concerns about the impact on rental-car revenues at the Airport," the minutes state.
As part of the agreement negotiated in 2004, Disney pays the airport 50 cents per passenger. Jennings said he tried to negotiate a clause in the contract that would allow the airport to raise that fee after the first six months of the service, but did not prevail, according to the minutes.
The airport's estimated lost revenue per passenger was $7.70, according to the minutes of the Jan. 25, 2005, Airlines/Airport Affairs Committee. That figure was arrived at by a former airport consultant who analyzed rental-car data.
Disney paid the airport $589,538 in passenger fees from May to December, according to airport records.
Those records show that June was the service's busiest month last year with 168,819 passengers. Its single busiest days came on Oct. 1 and on the day after Christmas, when it carried more than 10,000 people, the records show.
On most days, however, 3,000 to 5,000 people use the free service.
Beth Kassab can be reached at bkassab@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5448.
OIA panel will open up about future of Magical Express service
Beth Kassab | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted March 14, 2006
After a three-month delay, the board that oversees Orlando International Airport on Wednesday will publicly discuss the future of Disney's Magical Express shuttle and baggage service.
But the details of the program's future are still being hammered out.
"We have some issues out on the table," Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Chairman Jeffry Fuqua said Monday. "We have told everybody that we would give them an opportunity to express their opinion. Who knows what effect that will have on the ultimate outcome."
Though Fuqua would not elaborate on the issues, the free service -- which has become a model nationally for moving passengers and luggage -- has been controversial because of its impact on rental-car companies and taxi and limo services. Some of those companies say they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in business, an outcome airport administrators feared even before the service began.
On Wednesday, the board expects to hear a presentation from its consultant Michael Brown. It will be the first time the airport will publicly present any information about Magical Express since the board delayed its original meeting to do so in December.
Since Magical Express began in May, it has transported more than 1.1 million passengers and their luggage between the Disney resort and the airport.
Rental-car companies and taxi and limo services pay a concession fee to the airport each month based on how much business they do. That means the airport can lose money if those businesses experience a downturn.
Disney said in December that the service boosted airport revenue by $1.6 million and has streamlined airport operations so well that it could delay the need for a costly second terminal building.
Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty said Monday that the company is still "continuing to have discussions with the airport" on a "wide range of issues" and would not discuss the future of the service.
Disney World President Al Weiss met with Fuqua last month on the matter.
Threats have loomed for months that Disney could stop the service if the airport makes it too expensive to operate. The 18-month pilot project -- recently touted by Disney President and CEO Robert Iger -- ends in December.
At stake is how much money Disney pays the airport per passenger it transports and whether the airport will require the service be operated on both sides of the terminal rather than just one as it is now.
The airlines have largely backed the program because it has reduced their baggage-handling loads and helped shorten ticket-counter lines.
But because a group of airlines is responsible for budget shortfalls at Orlando International, the carriers have also taken an intense interest.
"You had a difference of opinion at first of what the impacts might be financially," said Southwest Airlines Properties Manager Randy Gillespie, who also serves as chairman of an airlines committee. "All we're trying to do is separate fact from fiction."
As early as January 2005 -- about four months before Magical Express began -- then-Executive Director Bill Jennings and other senior airport staffers expressed concern about the services' anticipated impact.
Minutes from a meeting of airport staffers, airline executives and a Disney executive, show that Jennings told the airlines he expected the service to reach 2 million passengers a year and it could harm rental-car companies.
"The staff at the Aviation Authority found the concept attractive; however, there are serious concerns about the impact on rental-car revenues at the Airport," the minutes state.
As part of the agreement negotiated in 2004, Disney pays the airport 50 cents per passenger. Jennings said he tried to negotiate a clause in the contract that would allow the airport to raise that fee after the first six months of the service, but did not prevail, according to the minutes.
The airport's estimated lost revenue per passenger was $7.70, according to the minutes of the Jan. 25, 2005, Airlines/Airport Affairs Committee. That figure was arrived at by a former airport consultant who analyzed rental-car data.
Disney paid the airport $589,538 in passenger fees from May to December, according to airport records.
Those records show that June was the service's busiest month last year with 168,819 passengers. Its single busiest days came on Oct. 1 and on the day after Christmas, when it carried more than 10,000 people, the records show.
On most days, however, 3,000 to 5,000 people use the free service.
Beth Kassab can be reached at bkassab@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5448.
