Orange County

OIA sees record-setting number of travelers since the start of the pandemic

ORLANDO, Fla. — People are eager to get out and travel after a long year at home.

Orlando International Airport is seeing record-setting travel once again.

Airport leaders said travel is getting close to pre-pandemic levels.

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New numbers show April traffic was 2000% higher than April last year.

The airport was a ghost town in April 2020 due to the pandemic.

According to the latest monthly numbers from April, Orlando International Airport saw more than 3.2 million passengers pass through.

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Channel 9′s Christy Turner spoke to a passenger who said air travel appears to be back on track.

“It’s kind of crazy to think that just a couple months ago, everything was shut down,” said Keyara Vandenburg.

Airport leaders said they are seeing a big bounce back.

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This past weekend, the airport drew a record-breaking crowd of passengers since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Saturday saw more than 67,000 air travelers alone.

Airport leaders say the numbers are strong domestically, and hope it’s a promising sigh for big turnout when international travel recovers.

Katlyn Brieskorn, WFTV.com

Katlyn Brieskorn is a Digital Assignment Editor at WFTV. She joined Channel 9 in July 2019.