From orlandosentinel.com:
Though it is not yet 3 years old, Walt Disney World’s popular but controversial airport shuttle and check-in service is luring so many tourists that the company soon might have to expand at Orlando International Airport — and fight off an antitrust lawsuit.
Disney transported more than 2.1 million passengers last year from the airport to its resorts and cruise ships, according to newly available figures. That’s nearly 9 percent more traffic than it handled in 2006, and it’s the first time the Disney service has crossed the 2 million threshold in a year.
At peak travel times, the company’s Magical Express buses to Disney World and its Disney Cruise Line buses to Port Canaveral carried more than 12,000 passengers in a single day. During one month — September 2007 — Disney carried away more than one of every seven travelers who landed at OIA.
Disney’s contract with OIA allows the airport to make Disney add a second customer check-in location when the company carries more than 2.2 million passengers in any 12-month period. Should that happen, Disney would have to divide its theme-park and cruise-line shuttle operations and rent more counter and queuing space at opposite ends of the main terminal.Disney currently pays nearly $1.3 million a year to rent counter, office and other operating space at the airport.
Spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said Disney expects to pass the 2.2 million threshold this year. Some airport officials think it will happen as early as March or April.
