While the summer period between June and August is still peak for Orlando due to the families who use breaks in school classes to take their children to theme parks, wintertime is only slightly less popular as people from both all over the U.S. come to Florida during the colder months for some sun.
Most major airlines have seasonal routes to different cities across Florida that they retire for the season in the spring due to falling demand from specific, usually cold-weather, markets.
Budget airline Allegiant Air (ALGT) began running new routes to Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) from the South Carolinan capital of Columbia in May while American Airlines (AAL) is starting a new flight to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) from Miami International (MIA) later this year.
American’s Director of Domestic Network Planning Jordan Pack named Miami as the airline’s “gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean” on top of any internal interest in the city for tourism.
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Delta launches seven new routes to Orlando, to run only on Saturdays
As the third-largest airline in the U.S., Delta Air Lines (DAL) became the latest to make a major push on Florida routes with seven new flights to Orlando launching on Dec. 20 and running until April 11, 2026.
The new flights to Orlando International Airport (MCO) will run from Cincinnati (CVG), Raleigh-Durham (RDU), Columbus (CMH), Kansas City (MCI), Birmingham (BHM), Omaha (OMA) and Milwaukee (MKE). Each will run once a week on Saturday and is aimed to reach a leisure traveler planning trips to the theme parks during the winter season.
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The move is an example of point-to-point expansion meant to target specific traveler times and locations rather than making a given city a hub. Normally, travelers from such secondary cities are redirected through hubs like Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) and Nashville International (BNA).
At the start of May, Delta announced other seasonal routes to Orlando from Pittsburgh and Austin during the same time period.
Delta plans to make it easier for people to get to Orlando.
Image source: Shutterstock
A new hub or routes meant to meet specific needs? Delta stays mum
“One of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, Orlando has been dubbed the ‘Theme Park Capital of the World,'” Delta writes of the city on its website. “While Walt Disney World started the trend, parks like Universal Studios, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and SeaWorld have made Orlando a total family playground.”
More on travel:
United Airlines places big bet on new flights to trendy destinationGovernment issues new travel advisory on popular beach destinationAnother country just issued a new visa requirement for visitors
Delta has so far not offered comment on these routes in particular but airline analysts have been drawing attention to shifting trends in Orlando travel numbers. The airline has also not revealed which aircraft it plans to use to run the flights but it would likely be the smaller regional jets used for shorter flights between nearby cities.
“Operating on Saturdays allows Delta to capture the peak leisure traveler without eating into fleet commitments elsewhere,” writes Kyle Stewart of Live And Let’s Fly. “Business flights occupy the fleet Sunday through Friday but no one travels for business on Saturday yet there is, of course, plenty of leisure demand for Saturday to Saturday weeklong vacations. These aircraft would otherwise sit idle so it makes sense to use them somewhere.”
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