The Orlando Airport Could See MAJOR Changes Following This New Announcement

Air travel has been in the news pretty frequently in 2025, both due to airport and airline incidents and because of the impending Southwest Airlines changes.

However, if you fly in or out of Orlando International Airport (MCO) often, you’ll want to prepare yourselves for some potential upcoming changes. A new CEO has been named, and he’ll soon take over the airport, including its various projects, in just about a month!

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Airport has named Lance Lyttle, the current managing director of aviation for Seattle-Tacoma Airport, as the airport’s new CEO. He could take the position as early as April, depending on how fast contract negotiations move.

The current CEO of Orlando Airport, Kevin Thibault, submitted his resignation in December. While Lyttle was the runner-up the last time the airport was searching for a CEO in 2021, he was unanimously voted as Thibault’s successor in a board meeting that took place on Wednesday, March 19th.

According to the chairman of the airport board, Tim Weisheyer, Lyttle was chosen for the job because they were impressed with his “vision on everything from transportation to baggage handling.” He continued to say that Lyttle is a “forward-thinking, innovative leader who’s going to help us move our strategic plan into the future… He also understands the mechanics of running an airport at an exceptional level.”

Lyttle began his career as chief information officer at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, then began as chief strategy and performance officer at the Houston Airport System, where he eventually moved his way up to becoming chief development officer and chief operating officer. Lyttle will be inheriting several large projects the airport has already announced, like a revamp of Terminals A and B, according to the Orlando Business Journal.

However, Lyttle appears to be well-equipped for the challenge, planning to approach these changes with a “micro-phase” approach, which involves doing smaller parts of the overall larger project one by one to minimize disruption to travelers. When asked why he was interested in the territory, he replied that the airport’s projected population growth and its subsequent demand for travel, the governance structure of the airport, the community support, and the land available for expansion were all leading factors.