The gateway to Disney World is getting a new baggage handling system. Florida's Orlando International Airport confirmed it is spending more than $650 million to make baggage handling more efficient over the next several years as it continues to grow at record levels.

Overhauling Terminals A and B

As part of its ongoing Capital Improvement Plan, Orlando International Airport (MCO) will invest $652 million in renovating the infrastructure for its Baggage Handling System. The project will help one of the nation's busiest airports better serve its wide cross-section of tourists and conference attendees.

And where do bags go when they are never retrieved by the owner?

According to FOX 35 , the airport served 60 million passengers last year, up significantly from the 50 million visitors served in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Airport officials estimate airlines at MCO cumulatively checked nearly 7,000 more departing bags each day in 2024 than they did in 2022.

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“The system that’s behind here was put in right after 9/11. So it’s over 20 years old and we’ve grown tremendously in those 20 years.

“The $650 million investment is really about making the process seamless.”

This project will complement the multi-million-dollar plan to refurbish Terminals A & B's interiors with new flooring, wall finishes, ceilings with lighting improvements, and upgraded restrooms at all four airsides. Construction is scheduled to begin this year with " substantial completion " in 2027.

What is being done?

According to the airport's development page , the new project will expedite luggage waiting times and increase passenger convenience. When the current airport complex opened in 1981, the original design of MCO’s baggage handling system was more than adequate to handle passenger demand. While baggage handling is always a partnership between the airport, airlines, the Transportation Security Administration ( TSA ), which does bag screening, and other internal stakeholders, the airport admits that its system has significant room for improvement.

In the short term, Orlando Airport will work with Express Service Providers (ESP) to meet operational needs. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority adopted a new policy in September 2024 to implement ESP operations, which will help to bring better efficiency by moving inbound bags to off-airport resorts and hotels and routing outbound bags to a Remote Screening Facility to decrease the volume of bags being processed in one area and improve flow.

Baggage mishandling has reduced drastically in recent years.

A new provider (or multiple ESPs) will be selected to begin services in the summer of 2025. The previous provider handled as much as 15% of the total baggage that MCO processed (mainly from cruise passengers).

Another incremental improvement is coming from the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for screening baggage. The TSA will be upgrading physical screening equipment within the baggage handling pods where screening occurs. According to the airport, several pods are undergoing upgrades, including Pod E, for which both the TSA and Aviation Authority share responsibility.

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The TSA will bring upgrades to the ethernet, IT, encoder, and some of the physical screening equipment systems within the baggage handling pods before the future and more permanent renovation of the current Baggage Handling System.

What else is on the way

In addition to its new baggage system, the airport is installing a new $13.5 million Parking Guidance System that is expected to be fully operational in all parking garages by 2027. Plans are also underway for the construction of a Consolidated Rental Car Facility that will reduce traffic congestion on terminal area roads and curbs, repurpose existing rental car areas within the existing terminal garages for public parking, improve wayfinding, and provide more efficiency for rental car operations and customers.

The update will help the airport process passengers from a growing number of destinations, with the airport offering nonstop flights to more than 170 locations. In 2024, Orlando International Airport welcomed Flair, with service to four Canadian destinations ; Iberojet, with seasonal service to Madrid, Spain; and Viva, with service to Merida and Monterrey, Mexico.

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This year has already seen the launch of flights to Manchester–Boston Regional Airport (MHT) with JetBlue, with domestic services still on the way from American Airlines, Breeze, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines. In terms of international links, Discover Airlines will begin service to Munich (MUC), Germany, on March 3rd, while Air France will resume flying to Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport (CDG) on May 21st, 2025.