ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando International Airport expects more than 155,000 passengers on Labor Day, making Monday one of the busiest days of the holiday travel period.
However, overall passenger traffic is projected to fall compared with last year.
MCO expects 841,577 arriving and departing passengers from Thursday through Tuesday. That is nearly 50,000 fewer passengers than the approximately 891,000 travelers recorded during the same period in 2025 — a decline of about 5.5%.
The drop comes despite AAA ranking Orlando as the country’s second-most-popular domestic destination for Labor Day travel.
One major change since last year is the closure of Spirit Airlines in May. Before shutting down, the low-cost carrier accounted for roughly 1 in 10 passengers at MCO.
But fewer passengers are not translating into cheaper holiday flights.
AAA says round-trip fares to popular domestic destinations such as Orlando are up nearly 20% from last year, averaging about $790.
Amanda Buehring, who traveled to Orlando from northern Wisconsin with her family, said the holiday weekend made their return trip more expensive.
“Obviously, it’s a little bit more expensive with the holiday weekend and everything,” Buehring said.
Buehring and her family arrived Thursday, hoping to avoid some of the higher holiday prices. She said the strategy worked.
The family visited three theme parks during the trip, but their journey home Sunday was delayed by about two hours.
The rising cost of airfare can make a full family vacation difficult to afford, Buehring said.
“You want people to come here, but to be able to afford it for regular people, it’s kind of hard to actually plan a full vacation with your family,” she said.
Despite the projected decline in overall passenger traffic, airport officials are urging travelers to arrive at least two hours before their scheduled departure.
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