As you land at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport (MLB), you fly over the Space Coast, Melbourne Beach, and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s no wonder that PrivateFly recently crowned MLB the “#1 Most Scenic Airport in North America.” With such glowing reviews, the airport has continued to grow and earn global recognition over the past few years, prompting their initiative to add a major international charter air carrier to their operation. They turned to VHB as their trusted advisor for planning, design, and construction oversight services.
Under our on-call planning services contract, VHB provided critical planning services that included assisting the airport in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant applications; a demand/capacity study for both airplane operations and passenger throughput; preliminary terminal space programming that resulted in new concepts for Flight Information Service (FIS) and passenger facilities expansion based on International Air Transport Association (IATA) requirements; and airside planning for new large aircraft operations that included planning for taxilanes/taxiways, new gates, and revised aircraft parking areas. This effort required working with multiple stakeholders such as the FAA, TSA, local police, and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). VHB’s efforts enabled the airport to move forward in procuring funding, selecting a design team, and begin designing proposed facilities to complement the beauty of the outside view.
