When air traffic collapsed due to the pandemic, Orlando Airport was as deserted as a run-down shopping mall.

Given this gloomy mood, the airport management feared that the aging Terminals A and B would become obsolete and might have to be demolished or put to another use.

At the same time, Terminal C was being built, its majestic architecture and impressive amenities promising an exciting future for travelers and reinforcing the belief that the days of A and B were numbered.

But these considerations have now been forgotten, just like the Covid mask requirement.

Without much fanfare but with growing momentum, the airport authority is instead pursuing a massive modernization of the North Terminal complex to extend the life of Terminals A and B despite formidable constraints such as low ceilings, narrow corridors and traffic congestion.

The total cost was not disclosed, but the Orlando Sentinel estimated it at $1.7 billion.

In addition, a $2 billion airport-wide restructuring of rental car operations is underway, freeing up enormous amounts of space in the North Terminal complex.

The physical design of the North Terminal complex will remain largely unchanged, but what passengers can expect in the coming years (with a lot of details still being worked out) is a modernised interior, a new range of shops and restaurants, and more comfortable seating with digital features.

There will be significantly less carpeting and more terrazzo for the ubiquitous rolling luggage, as well as additional and better toilets and a completely new way of renting a car.

Some of the modernisation measures, including the replacement of shuttle trains and baggage systems, are simply about increasing reliability and avoiding delays.

Overall, the investment will be competitive with any other at Orlando International Airport.

“We have to take care of everything,” said Kevin Thibault, CEO of the airport authority, saying A and B should last at least 10 to 15 years longer. “Terminal C can only be used to a limited extent at this time.”

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority has not yet determined an overall price for the multi-faceted efforts to increase the attractiveness, functionality and longevity of the North Terminal Complex.

The Sentinel’s estimated direct spending of $1.7 billion represents one of the largest capital initiatives the airport has ever undertaken, exceeding the original $1 billion cost of the North Terminal Complex (adjusted for inflation), but surpassing the $3.1 billion initially spent on Terminal C in the new South Terminal Complex.

Ultimately, said Thibault, it was clear that anything other than continuing to operate Terminals A and B would result in major upheavals.

The robust recovery in air traffic means that at sunrise there is an aircraft parked and ready at each of the 93 gates of the North Terminal complex.

They are prepared to accommodate another daily influx of travelers, which reached 58 million last year when the airport was the seventh busiest in the country.

The North Terminal complex remains the airport’s main workhorse, still handling eight passengers per passenger in Terminal C and is too busy to consider major demolition and reconstruction, Thibault said.

“We want to brighten it up, change the look,” he said. “We have a lot of potential opportunities here, but in the meantime it’s about how I can maximize my current assets.”

The renovation will begin next year with the “North Terminal Refresh Program” to “improve the appearance of Terminals A and B.”

The current aesthetic goes back to the 1970s.

Orlando Airport moved in 1962 to host McCoy Air Force Base, which was preparing for the Cuban Missile Crisis at the time. A weapons depot was converted into a passenger terminal.

In 1965, Walt Disney announced a theme park for Orange County. In 1974, the air force base was closed and the site moved to Orlando. In 1978, construction began on the North Terminal Complex, which opened in 1981.

By the early 2000s, the airport had completed its current configuration, which consists of a huge central hub with Terminals A and B and four outer hubs with all gates.

As part of the North Terminal Refresh Program, floors, wall coverings, ceilings and lighting on the three levels of the central terminal, the interiors of the oldest gates and all bathrooms in the four outer terminals will be renewed for $235 million.

That’s a lot. To give you an idea of ​​the size: the ticket counters in Terminals A and B are each a quarter of a mile long.

Orlando Airport places great importance on looking good for tourists, who make up about three-quarters of all travelers.

Famous features of the North Terminal Complex include the spacious atrium and fountain in a Hyatt hotel, as well as people mover shuttle trains that provide the feeling of a scenic flight on elevated rails from the central hub to the outer hubs. These features will remain.

Many passengers are satisfied with the North Terminal complex in its current form.

“Better than my airport – Midway,” said Helen Matiga of Chicago. The travel website The Points Guy published an article about Midway in 2019: “I spent a day at the worst airport in America.”

Brian Morrison of Fort Myers, who was waiting for his family to arrive, was stunned to be told the airport needed a costly overhaul. “It seems like a waste of money,” he said.

Kimberly Greene, of the Washington, D.C. area, has flown with JetBlue at Terminal C, however. “What they’ve done there is good,” she said, pausing at the A and B West security checkpoints. “They could use more calm and less chaos here.”

A trio of airline ticket agents stressed two needs: removing the old carpeting and, for the benefit of all, installing more effective signage. They said that when travelers leave their counters, the signs are unable to provide travelers with reliable directions to the gates. Airport management hopes to accommodate the agents’ wishes with the upgrade.

Perhaps the sharpest statement on the obsolescence of Terminals A and B comes from Terminal C, which rejected core features of the North Terminal complex.

There are no shuttle trains or remote hubs in Terminal C. Passengers walk to the gates – which has caused controversy as budget cuts have resulted in the elimination of moving walkways designed for long corridors.

Terminals A and B share the atrium and a large food court where passengers hang out before going to security checks and departure gates. Terminal C has the most prominent areas, shopping and restaurants behind security and closer to the gates.

The generous window views in Terminal C are designed to give passengers an overview of where they are and where they are going.

On lines A and B, which are limited by windows, passengers are completely dependent on signs for orientation.

One of the most striking elements of Terminal C was the placement of the baggage claim area on the top floor, which is equipped with many windows and thus offers an inviting view of the holiday sky.

Passengers in Terminals A and B collect their luggage from the second floor, causing basement claustrophobia.

The airport’s biggest challenge is to put criteria A and B more on a par with criteria C, say those responsible. Some of the restrictions – including the more cramped space, which was sufficient in the era of smaller aircraft and fewer travelers – will remain in place in the future.

“Let’s face it, we are somewhat limited by what we inherited,” said Tim Weisheyer, who was appointed chairman of the airport authority in April. “It was not built for the kind of demands that are now being placed on it.”

Weisheyer, a former president of the Osceola County School District, owns real estate brokerages, a development company and a consulting firm. He probably sees himself as a “superuser” and studies the Orlando airport and other airports around the world.

Terminals A and B were designed at a time when design standards for homes, restaurants, buildings and airports were still very different, Weisheyer said.

“We are preparing to make the right changes to the North Terminal in the meantime to ensure the experience does not stagnate in any way,” Weisheyer said.

The airport receives no tax revenue. The majority of the upcoming modernization costs will be financed by airport revenues from fees and rents paid by airlines and other companies operating at the airport.

One of the biggest projects is a $652 million fix for wear and tear and technical deficiencies in baggage handling systems. These improvements may not be noticeable to passengers, although they will increase the efficiency and speed of the system.

“We welcome the airport’s approach to renovate Terminals A and B while modernizing baggage handling systems,” said a spokesman for Southwest Airlines, Orlando’s busiest airline.

For $253 million, the airport authority will replace half of the people mover shuttle trains in the North Terminal Complex, which are the oldest and most worn out.

In order to achieve a comprehensive renovation of these businesses, areas for shops, restaurants and other concession areas will be put out to tender. The winners will bear the construction costs.

The airport authority declined to provide an estimate of those costs, but a longtime consultant estimates they could average about $1,000 per square foot, representing a potential cost of nearly $200 million.

The biggest initiative, valued at $2 billion, will be similar to what many other major airports already have: a consolidated rental car center. That means passengers at Terminals A and B, where rental cars are currently available, will have to take a people mover shuttle to the rental car center in the South Terminal Complex.

The ultimate value of this project to the complex will only become clear with time and further decisions, but its completion will free up a staggering amount of indoor and outdoor space for other uses in the North Terminal Complex, including thousands of scarce parking spaces.

Weisheyer said the redesign of the North Terminal complex will be undertaken against the backdrop of the complexity of further developing Terminal C, planning for the future Terminal D and solving difficult traffic congestion and parking issues throughout the airport area.

“It’s really a holistic approach,” Weisheyer said. “There’s never an easy answer to these things.”