Updates about Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (NWFBIA)

Hiring freeze at Southwest:

AIRLINE BIZ Blog | The Dallas Morning News

While this may be more of a soft freeze than a hard one, we still could see them moving existing employees down here for jobs at the new airport rather than hiring locally.

Kurt, what is the latest story on the rock base for the runways?

Forget the six-hour drive to the Panhandle.

A new airport opening near Panama City Beach next month will create an air-travel corridor between Northwest and Central Florida that could draw tourists and businesses alike.

As its name suggests, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport ? just north of Panama City Beach, near Vicksburg ? is close to the Panhandle's sugar-white beaches. But officials there think it will open up opportunities not only for leisure travelers but for businesses, as well.

Business travelers now are generally routed through Atlanta on their way to and from Orlando. Tickets on Delta Air Lines, the only carrier serving Panama City's existing airport, can cost $800 or more for the trip.

But the new airport will bring with it a bigger runway ? and a low-cost competitor for Delta. Southwest Airlines plans to offer at least eight daily nonstop departures from Beaches International to four cities, including Orlando.

That could be good news for Central Florida companies that regularly do business in Northwest Florida, including this region's training-simulation industry. The new airport is near major military installations, including Tyndall Air Force Base and the Naval Surface Warfare Center.

"Wherever you see a major air base, ? there are simulation capabilities there and there are companies that are there to support them," said Tom Baptiste, president and executive director of the National Center for Simulation in Orlando. "I think it sounds like goodness to me to have more access to the Panhandle."

For instance, Lockheed Martin, which has operations in Central Florida, also has employees in the Panama City area. A spokeswoman for the company's Missiles & Fire Control unit in south Orlando said it was "too soon to tell" if the new airport would affect the company's travel plans.

But there's no arguing that Beaches International will be a cheap alternative: Southwest is offering fares from Orlando as low as $49 one way. It's a refreshing change for a destination that admits is has had some of the highest airfares in the state.

"With Southwest and the [bigger,] mainstream Delta jets coming on, we've seen a decrease [in fares] on competitive routes," said Dan Rowe, chief executive officer of the Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Gary Walsingham, who owns the Ripley's Believe It or Not! in Panama City Beach, says he plans to use the new route. He travels to Orlando about twice a month to visit Ripley's corporate headquarters and to attend trade shows at the Orange County Convention Center.

He once flew nonstop on Delta's regional jets, but the Atlanta-based airline eliminated that service as it focused more on long-haul flights.

"After they stopped that service, I had to get on a plane and go from here to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Orlando," he said. "It was just aggravating ? beside the expense."

The new flights make Orlando a more-accessible leisure destination for visitors from the Panhandle ? a market with plenty of room for growth: In 2008, only about 48,500 visitors to Orlando came from Panama City, representing just 0.2 percent of all in-state visitation.

"It'll certainly make it easier," said Danielle Courtenay, a spokeswoman for the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

As for Panama City, its visitors' bureau is hoping it can lure more European travelers who fly to Orlando for the theme parks but also want to spend time on Florida's beaches.

After this year's Pow Wow international travel-trade show wraps up in Orlando in late May, Panama City plans to fly 25 travel writers and tour operators to Northwest Florida, hoping to sell them on the area's sugar-white sands and emerald waters.

Ads appearing in the Orlando area also target locals who might want a relaxing ? but thanks to the new air service, quick and inexpensive ? getaway.

"We kind of consider it a game changer here," said Tracy Louthain, director of communications for the Beaches of South Walton. "To have a direct flight into Orlando is just going to open the entire state ... to the beautiful beaches up here."

Does anyone know about the flight paths for the new airport? What I am trying to figure out is....will Freeport get noise?

I just want to know if they will be serving good tasting hot dogs. Airport hotdogs are some of my favorites.

Yuk...do you know how unhealthy those are?

With just a month left before the opening of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, officials are scurrying to meet federal agency deadlines, and they might be excused for being a bit nervous.
A lot is riding on the airport opening on time, from airline schedules, to passenger vacation and business plans, to a public perception of the Airport Authority board’s competence. But Jeff Dealy of KBR, program manager for the relocation project, is keeping his cool…
…Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials were at the airport this week, including an inspector from Atlanta, making sure the airport meets requirements for commercial service certification, airport executive director Randy Curtis said. These inspections were periodic at the old regional airport, but the new international airport near West Bay “is starting from scratch,” Curtis said.
The inspections included checks of safety issues, lighting, emergency plans, fencing, taxiway markings and the dirt drop-off around the 10,000-foot runway, Dealy said.
“The preliminary airfield inspection went well,” he said. “That’s looking good.”
​

Panama City attorney William Harrison has a troubling vision. He likens the scenario of opening a new international airport, the first in the country since Sept. 11, 2001, to preparing for a hurricane. You don’t really know what it’s like until you experience it.
“All of a sudden we have hundreds of thousands of people looking for something to do, in volumes that we have never seen before,” said Harrison...

As May 23 nears, are we ready for a new airport? | new, airport, panama - News - The News Herald

Does anyone know about the flight paths for the new airport? What I am trying to figure out is....will Freeport get noise?

we were out on a boat south of Panama city the other day and watching a commercial jet with limited markings make runs north toward the airport and then pull up and come around and do it all over again? each time it would put down it's landing gear and then swing way out over the gulf and come back round. I kept thinking that all those golfers in Bay Point will be pissed off pretty fast!
if i was a betting man they are trying to see when/where the jets have to be on their flight path for landing procedure? Dry Runs on the runways possibly?

Phoenix Construction president says he won't fix stormwater system problem

we were out on a boat south of Panama city the other day and watching a commercial jet with limited markings make runs north toward the airport and then pull up and come around and do it all over again? each time it would put down it's landing gear and then swing way out over the gulf and come back round. I kept thinking that all those golfers in Bay Point will be pissed off pretty fast!
if i was a betting man they are trying to see when/where the jets have to be on their flight path for landing procedure? Dry Runs on the runways possibly?

Set to open late this month, the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport is already showing promise as the economic catalyst that business leaders want for the region.

Janet Watermeier, executive director of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, says one company, Coast WET of California, has already moved its headquarters to the area; two others are considering airport locations. "We're out in the market now talking to real estate and corporate executives," says Kevin Johnson, St. Joe vice president for economic development.



St. Joe itself is moving its headquarters to a site adjacent to the airport, relocating from its 75-year home in Jacksonville. The new headquarters, scheduled for completion by summer 2011, will also consolidate offices from Tallahassee, Port St. Joe and south Walton County.
Business leaders predict the airport eventually will form the nucleus of an entire new central business district. The facility also will help capture tourists from far outside the southeast market and lead to a surge in industrial development, they say. "It will be an airport city," says airport director Randy Curtis.



The airport, Florida's newest, encompasses 1,300 acres and a 130,000-sq.-ft. terminal, both twice the dimensions of the airport it replaces, and with room to grow. Service will include first-time daily non-stop flights to Houston, Nashville, Baltimore and Orlando by prized new connector Southwest Airlines.



"This will allow us to reach audiences that can come and experience Panama City Beach for the first time," says Bay County Tourist Development Council executive director Dan Rowe. Bay County and the Beaches of South Walton Tourist Development Council together have pledged more than $3 million per year from a fifth penny on bed taxes for use in joint marketing with low-fare airlines, 90% dedicated to Southwest.



The airport's West Bay site is part of 75,000 untapped acres owned by St. Joe Co., of which 40,000 acres are designated for preservation and more than 33,000 programmed for development; 1,000 acres are targeted to be occupant-ready within two years. Runway proximity gives the site appeal for aerospace, transportation and logistics industries.



Altogether, says Johnson, "I don't think there's another asset in our region remotely close to what we have."




Plans call for the airport to eventually form the nucleus of a new central business district.