9 Investigates: Budget concerns, competition threaten OIA billion-dollar expansion

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — 9 Investigates learned portions of Orlando International Airport’s billion-dollar expansion plan have been delayed and dragged over budget.

OIA’s existing terminal has operated over capacity for years, which makes the delays for numerous individual projects all the more concerning as the airport looks to hit 40 million passengers for the first time in a single year.

More parking and transportation options are already being built, but airport officials said they’re having to fight-and pay-for the construction companies to get it done.

"You've got the I-4 Ultimate, you've got a lot of expansion going on at Universal now and Disney,” OIA Executive Director Phillip Brown said.

Brown said competition from other local projects is pushing the prices up for the airport’s projects, and crews working on current projects, like an on-site power plant, are trying to bill OIA for more than $1 million extra in “unforeseen expenses.”

Brown said the airport can’t afford to become one that passengers hate, with tourism and conventions hanging in the balance.

Small projects, like the removal of moving sidewalks, are struggling to finish on time. A major expansion at one of the airport’s customs processing areas should have broken ground last fall, but it faces red tape from the federal government and bids that are 15 percent-roughly $10 million-over budget.

Brown said OIA is working on cutting nonessential features from upcoming projects like renovating and expanding the ticket lobbies, in an effort to bring costs under control.

"The users are the ones that need to benefit from this, and we don't want them to pay any more than is reasonable,” Brown said.

Brown said he’s working with construction crews to shorten the time spent on projects, which he said would add another level of cost control to upcoming projects like a renovation and expansion of the existing ticketing lobby.

Cox Media Group