Rumblings about Orlando Sanford International Airport looking at ways to merge with its much bigger neighbor in Orlando have waned to a whimper.
Sanford airport board member Whitey Eckstein suggested last week that it might be time to look at combining the two airports or creating a regional airport authority. The proposal surprised members of the board, who discussed the issue but took no action.
Seminole County Commissioner Randy Morris, who is the county's liaison to the airport, said some kind of regional port or airport authority eventually will be needed in Central Florida.
"Sanford and OIA are serving a significantly similar market with tourists," he said, adding that a regional authority could see benefits in joint marketing and planning.
But there appears to be little support for the concept elsewhere.
Orlando airport officials said they had not heard any formal proposal and showed little interest in discussing the concept. The chairman of the Sanford airport board said his isn't the agency that should move the issue forward.
"Maybe we're not the venue to get it done," said Goeffrey Longstaff. "It's just an idea. The details are incredibly complex. It would be more appropriate for one of the regional organizations such as MetroPlan [Orlando] or myregion.org to take it on. We don't intend to act on it."
There are few tangible benefits to the traveling public in creating a regional port authority, according to officials with the Airports Council International of North America.
More often than not such authorities are created because of problems or perceived problems at an airport, said Stephen Martin, senior vice president of policy and planning at the council.
Eckstein's proposal was all the more surprising because of the longtime rivalry between the competing airports.
In the early 1990s, Sanford lured away a handful of British tourist charters from Orlando. Officials at OIA complained bitterly when the Sanford airport changed its name to Orlando Sanford International Airport.
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