caryrae
03-14-2008, 11:12 AM
Sounds like Disney could add a second check-in counter soon.
Disney's Magical Express thriving at OIA; rivals cry foul
Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 21, 2008
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.
"When we do reach that benchmark, we will plan with the airport authority on what steps will be operationally needed to ensure the highest level of service for all airport guests are met," Suarez said. "We're excited about growing DME further."
For all it success, Disney's Magical Express has been unable to shake controversy.
Other transportation companies continue to accuse Disney, which does not separately charge customers who ride Magical Express, of running its smaller competitors out of business. At least one operator, Premier Exotic Limousines, recently pulled out of the airport in large part because it couldn't compete with Disney's service, co-owner Jenaid Abdulhakeem said.
Rival operators say Disney shouldn't be allowed to advertise Magical Express as a "free" service when the company can simply bundle the costs of running the shuttle and luggage service into the price of its hotel rooms.
"Nobody can run 40 to 50 buses a day for free," said Miguel Hernandez, the owner of M&J Tours and Transportation Inc., which operates two stretch limousines, a town car, an SUV and a 15-seat van. Hernandez said his business has fallen nearly 30 percent since Magical Express began. "We can't compete with 'free.' "
Disney's Suarez said Magical Express has been a boon for all of Central Florida because it has eased congestion in airport check-in lines and at baggage-claim carousels, reduced the number of tourists on the road in rental cars, created new jobs, and been an extra lure in getting more travelers to visit Orlando.
Still, the National Limousine Association says it is considering challenging Disney on antitrust grounds.
"It's being looked at," said Barry Lefkowitz, a lobbyist for the Marlton, N.J.-based limousine association, though he conceded that such a challenge would face long odds. "We're trying to work out some kind of game plan."
While it has had little trouble filling its buses, Disney has had more difficulty boosting customers' use of Magical Express' related return-flight check-in option. That's the service through which guests can check in for their flights home and drop off their luggage before they even leave Disney property.
Guests who don't use the remote check-in service can still ride the Magical Express shuttle. But company executives have made it a priority to encourage use of the baggage service, too, in hopes of freeing visitors to spend even more time in Disney's theme parks before they leave for home.
There's another incentive: Disney's deal with OIA includes a provision capping the amount it can be charged -- provided by June Disney gets at least 65 percent of its Magical Express riders to use the remote check-in option when they return to the airport. OIA currently charges Disney 75 cents a rider, which cost Disney nearly $1.6 million last year. Under the cap, OIA could not raise that charge beyond $1.25 per rider.
Disney, though, has yet to reach an agreement with Southwest Airlines, the busiest carrier at OIA, that would allow Southwest passengers to use the remote check-in service. Every other major domestic airline already participates in the program -- which reduces the amount of luggage that has to be screened in OIA's main terminal -- but Southwest alone is responsible for more than a fifth of OIA's traffic.
Southwest and Disney had hoped to have a deal in place early this year. But Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis says the airline is concerned that Disney and the company it contracts with to run the check-in service, Orlando-based Bags Inc., would be overwhelmed by Southwest passengers. The airline, she said, expects at least 80,000 of the nearly 320,000 passengers Southwest brings to Orlando every month would use Magical Express.
"With the number of bags we have, the number of customers we have, it would just be difficult for them to handle that load," McInnis said, adding that Southwest processes more bags at OIA on a per-passenger basis than it does at any other airport in the country.
"We're working with them to try and automate the process," she added. "We are close."
Disney's Magical Express thriving at OIA; rivals cry foul
Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 21, 2008
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.
"When we do reach that benchmark, we will plan with the airport authority on what steps will be operationally needed to ensure the highest level of service for all airport guests are met," Suarez said. "We're excited about growing DME further."
For all it success, Disney's Magical Express has been unable to shake controversy.
Other transportation companies continue to accuse Disney, which does not separately charge customers who ride Magical Express, of running its smaller competitors out of business. At least one operator, Premier Exotic Limousines, recently pulled out of the airport in large part because it couldn't compete with Disney's service, co-owner Jenaid Abdulhakeem said.
Rival operators say Disney shouldn't be allowed to advertise Magical Express as a "free" service when the company can simply bundle the costs of running the shuttle and luggage service into the price of its hotel rooms.
"Nobody can run 40 to 50 buses a day for free," said Miguel Hernandez, the owner of M&J Tours and Transportation Inc., which operates two stretch limousines, a town car, an SUV and a 15-seat van. Hernandez said his business has fallen nearly 30 percent since Magical Express began. "We can't compete with 'free.' "
Disney's Suarez said Magical Express has been a boon for all of Central Florida because it has eased congestion in airport check-in lines and at baggage-claim carousels, reduced the number of tourists on the road in rental cars, created new jobs, and been an extra lure in getting more travelers to visit Orlando.
Still, the National Limousine Association says it is considering challenging Disney on antitrust grounds.
"It's being looked at," said Barry Lefkowitz, a lobbyist for the Marlton, N.J.-based limousine association, though he conceded that such a challenge would face long odds. "We're trying to work out some kind of game plan."
While it has had little trouble filling its buses, Disney has had more difficulty boosting customers' use of Magical Express' related return-flight check-in option. That's the service through which guests can check in for their flights home and drop off their luggage before they even leave Disney property.
Guests who don't use the remote check-in service can still ride the Magical Express shuttle. But company executives have made it a priority to encourage use of the baggage service, too, in hopes of freeing visitors to spend even more time in Disney's theme parks before they leave for home.
There's another incentive: Disney's deal with OIA includes a provision capping the amount it can be charged -- provided by June Disney gets at least 65 percent of its Magical Express riders to use the remote check-in option when they return to the airport. OIA currently charges Disney 75 cents a rider, which cost Disney nearly $1.6 million last year. Under the cap, OIA could not raise that charge beyond $1.25 per rider.
Disney, though, has yet to reach an agreement with Southwest Airlines, the busiest carrier at OIA, that would allow Southwest passengers to use the remote check-in service. Every other major domestic airline already participates in the program -- which reduces the amount of luggage that has to be screened in OIA's main terminal -- but Southwest alone is responsible for more than a fifth of OIA's traffic.
Southwest and Disney had hoped to have a deal in place early this year. But Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis says the airline is concerned that Disney and the company it contracts with to run the check-in service, Orlando-based Bags Inc., would be overwhelmed by Southwest passengers. The airline, she said, expects at least 80,000 of the nearly 320,000 passengers Southwest brings to Orlando every month would use Magical Express.
"With the number of bags we have, the number of customers we have, it would just be difficult for them to handle that load," McInnis said, adding that Southwest processes more bags at OIA on a per-passenger basis than it does at any other airport in the country.
"We're working with them to try and automate the process," she added. "We are close."