Airport - new website, update & pics

Customer service at airlines is becoming a lost art - especially at the bigger/older airports and I think people are certainly reacting to it - especially the nickel and diming bag fees.

Thanks to the locations where I and my immediate family live I fly into/out of smaller regional airports and the difference in service levels and amenities is amazing.

At my parents' home airport they have local restaurants as the airport concession service and a special seating area w/ $$ leather couches and recliners a local furniture company has set up to get their name/product out there!

Customer service at airlines is becoming a lost art - especially at the bigger/older airports and I think people are certainly reacting to it - especially the nickel and diming bag fees.

Thanks to the locations where I and my immediate family live I fly into/out of smaller regional airports and the difference in service levels and amenities is amazing.

At my parents' home airport they have local restaurants as the airport concession service and a special seating area w/ $$ leather couches and recliners a local furniture company has set up to get their name/product out there!

I appreciate consolidation ( including local vendors ) and efficiency.

Wow. This airport will never survive! People are broke and not going to come to the beach. New industries will not be moving to the PCB area.

You guys may be on to something, if we are talking about the short term. However, this airport isn't being built because of today's needs. It is being built to be ahead of the growth curve. Today is not in the year 2020. We are in 2008.

Update from last night -- the airport construction is ahead of schedule and is currently under budget.

If you want a realistic picture of what the new airport will look like in 2020, go to Pensacola in the present day. What you have is a very nice regional airport that does about three times the passenger volume of PCB, and that offers a variety of daily flights to the hubs of multiple major carriers.

But daily flights to London from there, the PNS airport director would laugh at you for suggesting it because it makes no sense. Their big goal right now is getting one of the coveted daily non-stop slots into Reagan/Washinton National. (Which would actually be a pretty big coup because of how tightly those slots are capped)

...go to Pensacola in the present day. What you have is a very nice regional airport that does about three times the passenger volume of PCB

Actually, they do more than 5 times the volume!

Their big goal right now is getting one of the coveted daily non-stop slots into Reagan/Washinton National. (Which would actually be a pretty big coup because of how tightly those slots are capped)

Last year during Christmas, ASA ran flights from VPS to NYC using 50 seat jets that would have normally been sitting on the ground somewhere due to the holiday schedule. I did some digging and found that those flights did pretty well but, in the grand scheme of things, did not pose the best usage for the aircraft. It is not being done again this year so my guess is that the yield that they were getting from the flights didn't warrant doing it again.
Regarding DCA...all of the passenger info gets analyzed to the "n'th" degree. If traffic warranted it, again, it would be looked at; however, no airline is going to pull a 150+ seat aircraft off of a route that is routinely full to service a small city with a 50 seat aircraft instead. It's simple math...

...and I'll say it again...
The new airport is being designed around the Airbus A320 model. It will be able to poetentially handle something as large as a 757, albeit, with very little fuel onboard due to the ramp and runway weight limitations so you will never get a true international flight from the new airport, anyway...

...and I'll say it again...
The new airport is being designed around the Airbus A320 model. It will be able to poetentially handle something as large as a 757, albeit, with very little fuel onboard due to the ramp and runway weight limitations so you will never get a true international flight from the new airport, anyway...

All I really care about is Delta or AirTran flying a real jet to/from ATL. I guess the French and Germans could change planes in ATL.

My last flight from VPS to Atlanta was on a prop plane - the airbus is a long ways off! :rofl:

All I really care about is Delta or AirTran flying a real jet to/from ATL. I guess the French and Germans could change planes in ATL.

My last flight from VPS to Atlanta was on a prop plane - the airbus is a long ways off! :rofl:

Well...ya both get your wishes,,,at least from Delta / ASA. ASA is getting rid of the ATR72's. I think they have only 6 left and are due to get rid of them in several short months. As far as "real" jet service goes, I'm not sure if you're talking size or not. PFN is still going to be served by Regional Jets (50 or 70 seats). Eglin has 3 MD88 flights a day. One of the bits from the NW aquisition is the redeployment of their old DC9's. My guess is you will start seeing them in about a year.

By "real jets", I mean Delta proper, not ASA. My last ASA turbo-prop flight was from ATL to Asheville during a thunderstorm. I had to take it because a client was waiting in Asheville. I swore it would be my last and it was. I am not a nervous flyer; have almost a million miles on Delta and a bunch on America, Eastern, Southern, etc.

If the new airport only offers ASA and the others, I will keep driving and counting the years before Alabama finishes US 431 between Phenix City and Eufaula.

By "real jets", I mean Delta proper, not ASA. My last ASA turbo-prop flight was from ATL to Asheville during a thunderstorm. I had to take it because a client was waiting in Asheville. I swore it would be my last and it was. I am not a nervous flyer; have almost a million miles on Delta and a bunch on America, Eastern, Southern, etc.

If the new airport only offers ASA and the others, I will keep driving and counting the years before Alabama finishes US 431 between Phenix City and Eufaula.

That's not a bad route to and from Atl by way of Phenix and Columbus. Columbus is never dull at 2:30 in the morning on the way to ATL.

All I really care about is Delta or AirTran flying a real jet to/from ATL. I guess the French and Germans could change planes in ATL.

The French and Germans won't change planes in ATL, they'll fly straight into Orlando and head for Disney like they do now...and those with lots of cash to burn will probably be jetting to Dubai.



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I think people are missing the point of an international airport. Currently you can fly in to PFN and sit on the tarmac waiting for customs to come from the port. The new airport will have customs on site. Ever gone through customs in NY, ATL, or others. The point is to be able to board a connector flight here going through a very short process and simply bypass the headache in other cities.

As to the Dubai comment SHELLY, keep in mind that we have alcohol and aren't surrounded by areas that could fall into civil war at any moment.

If the new airport only offers ASA and the others, I will keep driving and counting the years before Alabama finishes US 431 between Phenix City and Eufaula.

ASA will be all jets within 6 months.

In the recent edition of "Global Airport Cities" (issue 2, Volume 3), there is a Special Report on Panama City, Florida and "The USA's new green airport." Mostly, the article talks about JOE and Bay County's vision of the future, and plans to develop around the new airport.

My copy must've got lost in the mail.

I think people are missing the point of an international airport. Currently you can fly in to PFN and sit on the tarmac waiting for customs to come from the port. The new airport will have customs on site. Ever gone through customs in NY, ATL, or others. The point is to be able to board a connector flight here going through a very short process and simply bypass the headache in other cities.

As to the Dubai comment SHELLY, keep in mind that we have alcohol and aren't surrounded by areas that could fall into civil war at any moment.

Alcohol is served at hotels, clubs and resorts in Dubai--the civil war thing enhances "living life on the edge," like a canoe trip in Northern Geogia or partying in South Beach--or playing music after 8pm in SoWal.

The French and Germans won't change planes in ATL, they'll fly straight into Orlando and head for Disney like they do now...and those with lots of cash to burn will probably be jetting to Dubai.

I meant the Germans and French to whom Joe will be marketing. Of course, we will need a topless accommodation somewhere along 30-a.

I meant the Germans and French to whom Joe will be marketing. Of course, we will need a topless accommodation somewhere along 30-a.

I'm betting the marketing people at JOE (if they haven't layed them all off by now) are clueless when it comes to selling this area as a destination resort to the French or Germans in large enough numbers to make it count. I can tell you for a fact, that any large number of Brits coming to Florida will make a beeline for Disney.

I meant the Germans and French to whom Joe will be marketing. Of course, we will need a topless accommodation somewhere along 30-a.

And that's the justification for preserving Deer Lake SP.

I'm betting the marketing people at JOE (if they haven't layed them all off by now) are clueless when it comes to selling this area as a destination resort to the French or Germans in large enough numbers to make it count. I can tell you for a fact, that any large number of Brits coming to Florida will make a beeline for Disney.

I used to live and work in the People's Republic of Massachusetts and we had a large subsidiary in Germany. Our German employees would crawl off the plane asking how to get to DisneyWorld. No kidding.

That's not a bad route to and from Atl by way of Phenix and Columbus. Columbus is never dull at 2:30 in the morning on the way to ATL.

I grew up in Columbus. I know where the good BBQ is. Other than a fine symphony and good BBQ, Columbus offers little else.

I'm betting the marketing people at JOE (if they haven't layed them all off by now) are clueless when it comes to selling this area as a destination resort to the French or Germans in large enough numbers to make it count. I can tell you for a fact, that any large number of Brits coming to Florida will make a beeline for Disney.

You'd lose that bet as they still have the marketing department. I happen to know first hand that said marketing department has actually traveled quite extensively in Europe.

If you could work in a Mickey Mouse shuttle from the airport you'd probably get quite a few of them here. Disney doesn't offer much as far as "nature".

If the Europeans want 'nature' that's what cheap package tours to Spain, Portugual, and the Canary Islands are for- nice climate, cool little villages to explore, and significantly less travel time and no passport/visa hassles since they're staying in the EU.

When they come to Florida, they're looking for either theme parks or a Latin American experience (ie. Miami)

I'm betting the marketing people at JOE (if they haven't layed them all off by now) are clueless when it comes to selling this area as a destination resort to the French or Germans in large enough numbers to make it count. I can tell you for a fact, that any large number of Brits coming to Florida will make a beeline for Disney.

You'd certainly be amazed at the proprietary market data base that JOE has developed. AT some point that data bank is going to unite with the perfect marketer and JOE is going to break out.

You'd certainly be amazed at the proprietary market data base that JOE has developed. AT some point that data bank is going to unite with the perfect marketer and JOE is going to break out.

I think you are on to something here. Our German friends are still wild about SoWal even though they now have to travel back and forth every three months. Met a number of Brits on the beach this summer. They were repeat visitors. I'm curious when the Chinese and Japanese markets will be tapped. They like authentic experiences.