A $30 million overhaul of the elevators at the 21-year-old terminal, however, is still scheduled to start in October.

Right now, however, airport officials and staff concede the new construction push elsewhere may have to be put off until passenger demand is stronger than at present. The construction industry specifically was counting on the airport's growth plans to create new jobs in the immediate five-county area.

But new passenger projections by airport personnel show the 2001 passenger count slipped to 28 million from 30 million in 2000 and won't reach a previously predicted high of 38 million in 2005 until 2008 if the strongest annual growth rate of 4.3% is maintained.

If the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates the airport, votes in June to postpone new construction, that decision will probably be good news for the nation's major carriers who are struggling financially from the 9-11 catastrophe. The carriers pay for new construction at airports.

"It won't be good news, however, for Orlando International Airport in the long run when passenger volume picks up and the airport finds it can't accommodate the new crush," an airport manager tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.

Airport officials had planned to open a 12-gate concourse at a new south terminal in 2005. Those plans may be scrubbed because projections are showing passenger growth is at a 2.2% annual growth rate instead of being at a previously predicted 4.3% plateau.

"Nobody could have predicted 9-11 and that's what has skewed all the growth numbers," an airport staffer tells GlobeSt.com. Using the slower growth-rate figures, the airlines are expected to tell the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority the airport is large enough to handle the passenger load for another five years.

In 2000, the carriers collectively agreed they wouldn't fund major new construction until at least the end of 2004. They agreed, however, to contribute $75 million for refurbishing the existing terminal in exchange for the delay on larger construction.

Projections that may change by June show passenger volume could reach 29 million this year, based on the strongest demand of 4.3% growth; 30.5 million in 2003; 32 million in 2004; 33.5 million in 2005; 35 million in 2006; 36.1 million 2007; 38 million in 2008; 39.5 million in 2009; and 41 million in 2010.

Cities that have already delayed airport expansions on runways and terminals are Los Angeles, Charlotte, Minneapolis and San Francisco.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Airport's $800M Expansion Up in Air

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