Orlando airport to open prayer room for Muslim travelers before Emirates service begins
The Orlando International Airport has announced that it will be constructing a prayer room for Muslim travelers, one that it hopes to complete before Emirates Airline begins its daily service to and from the airport. The airport, which currently has a nondenominational chapel, will spend $250,000 to build the room. When it is completed, the prayer room will have luggage and shoe racks, directional signs marking north, south, east and west, and an ablution area for the cleansing rituals that must be undertaken before prayers.
Airport director Phil Brown told the Orlando Sentinel:
Orlando is truly becoming a global community, and we want to be able to accommodate and provide high-quality amenities for all our passengers.
Although the existing airport chapel does have a couple of prayer rugs available, many Muslim travelers have to conduct their prayers – and the wudhu cleansing rituals – in the airport restrooms. Shayan Modarres, an attorney and civil rights activist in Orlando, told the paper that the room would be "a great step in the right direction, especially for tolerance and inclusion."
It will also provide privacy and, hopefully, prevent unnecessary cultural misunderstandings. In 2012, a Muslim family was detained at the Orlando Sanford Airport after attempting to cleanse themselves in the lavatory of an Allegiant Airlines flight. The FBI was called and the male members of the group were questioned before being released. The family was reportedly traveling to a volleyball and badminton tournament.
According to Crescent Rating, a website that provides information on Halal-friendly travel, Denver International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy Airport are the only other U.S. airports that have dedicated prayer rooms for Muslim travelers. San Francisco International Airport has a designated worship area for Muslim cab drivers – complete with cleansing facilities – on the ground floor of one of its parking garages, but the airport itself only has a nondenominational reflection room.
The Orlando airport's prayer room will be completed before the inaugural Emirates flight lands on September 1. It will be on Airside 4, a location that will be convenient to travelers on Emirates and other international flights.