Naval Air Station Sanford

Orlando Sanford International Airport started life as Naval Air Station Sanford with the airport codes NRJ and KNRJ. Commissioned on November 3, 1942, the base initially concentrated on advanced land-based patrol plane training. It was used by the United States Navy until it closed in 1969.

Orlando Sanford International Airport

The City of Sanford assumed control of the former NAS Sanford in 1969 and renamed the facility Sanford Airport, hiring the air station's recently retired Executive Officer, Commander J. S. "Red" Cleveland, USN (Ret.), as the first Airport Manager. The city concurrently established the Sanford Airport Authority. For the next twenty-five years, the airport was a general aviation facility and periodically hosted civilian/military air shows and static displays. Initially an uncontrolled airfield, the control tower was reactivated in the early 1970s as a non-FAA facility, employing a number of retired enlisted Navy air traffic controllers who had served at NAS Sanford.

In 1979, air travel clubs like Denver Ports of Call and Ambassadair started to use the airport, landing Convair 990s and Boeing 707s, attacted by lower fees and lower fuel prices. The jetliners dwarfed the general aviation aircraft that otherwise used the airport.

Additional name changes followed, to include Sanford Regional Airport, Central Florida Regional Airport, Orlando Sanford Regional Airport and the current Orlando Sanford International Airport. Through the 1980s and 1990s the oldest Navy buildings were demolished while those built in the 1950s and 1960s were renovated for civil use. New buildings and hangars were added.

OLF Osceola was transferred to the control of Seminole County, Florida, but was never officially recommissioned as an active airfield. In the 1970s the former OLF began to be used by general aviation drug-smuggling aircraft as a transshipment point. Following a major drug interdiction by local and federal law enforcement agencies, Seminole County placed large speed bumps at various intervals across the runways to deter future illegal use. By the 1980s the county began to use the site as a landfill and dump, demolishing the remaining runways.

1990s

In 1992, parts of the action film Passenger 57, starring Wesley Snipes, were filmed at the then-Orlando Sanford Regional Airport, where it represented a small airport in Louisiana. Shortly after filming, a new control tower was built and air traffic control operations assumed by the FAA. The Navy control tower and the large Navy hangar to which it was attached were demolished.

In the mid-1990s, a new passenger terminal capable of accommodating jet airliners was built. Charter airlines catering to the heavy British tourist demographic that had previously been using Orlando International Airport were offered greatly reduced landing fees at Sanford, and therefore many carriers relocated their operations.

2010–present

In 2010, Allegiant Air announced it was moving many flights to the larger and more centrally located Orlando International Airport in order to compete with AirTran Airways. Owing to passenger feedback, all flights have returned to Orlando Sanford.

In 2014, Thomas Cook Airlines moved their operations back to Orlando International Airport after almost a decade of serving Orlando Sanford with the operations of Airtours, JMC Air & My Travel. In September 2019, Thomas Cook ceased all operations.

Icelandair moved to Orlando International Airport in 2015.

In October 2017, Monarch Airlines ceased operations after entering administration, therefore resulting in the termination of their flights to Sanford. All flights were operated using their Airbus A330 and served London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow International.

In April 2016, Interjet operated flights to Mexico City. It later switched operations to the main Orlando airport from May 2018.

In 2017, Thomson Airways (now TUI Airways) began operating routes to UK airports. This was the largest international airline at the airport having served eight destinations around the UK. However, in November 2019, TUI Airways announced that, from 2022, it would switch their Orlando operations from Sanford to Melbourne Orlando International Airport, including the daily flights to/from those 8 British airports. This will bring their operations nearer to Port Canaveral, where TUI Cruises will operate from in coming years. The decision has angered many TUI passengers who fly with the company to visit Orlando for Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort.

In July 2021, Canadian low-cost carrier Flair Airlines announced they would launch service between Sanford and five Canadian destinations beginning in winter 2021.

In 2025, the airport announced it had attracted $300 million in proposed development to expand its services and offerings.