Category: Airport Updates

Sheltair Opens FBO at the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport

This summer, Sheltair opened it’s FBO (short for fixed base operations) at the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.  They are the only FBO at the new airport, and they also operated an FBO at the old Panama City Airport (PFN).

“We are so thrilled to have opened our beautiful, new facility in order to better serve our based, as well as transient customers in the Florida panhandle,” said Danny Walsh, Vice President of Aviation at Sheltair, “This location is truly one of the flagship FBO’s in our network and will now be a gateway for many to some of the most gorgeous beaches and scenery that this state has to offer.”

What is an FBO

An FBO is a Fixed Base Operator that provides aeronautical services at commercial airports.  The Federal Aviation Administration defines an FBO as A commercial business granted the right by the airport sponsor to operate on an airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, etc..

In other words, if you’re a private pilot or a member of the general aviation community, you would use this new facility to come and go from the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

About the new facility

Sheltair had been operating at the new Panama City Beach airport out of a temporary space on the airfield, but they just moved into their new 5,000 square foot facility end of July.  The building was build to LEED Certification standards and is currently in the approval process with the U.S. Green Building Council.

Some of the amenities at the new facility include:

  • Spacious passenger lobby
  • Conference room
  • Pilots lounge
  • Flight planning and weather room
  • Complimentary interior cleaning
  • Catering
  • Crew cars
  • Cafeteria/vending area
  • Complimentary refreshments/snacks
  • Wireless Internet

In addition to the main building, Sheltair also offers 1,680 square feet of office rental space and a 9,100 square foot hangar that’s available for lease.

For more information about Sheltair, visit SheltairAviation.com

More pictures

New Airport STOMPS Old Airport Numbers [REPORT]

Northwest Florida International Airport is always a fun topic. Everyone loves to talk about it, read about it and quote words like “projected passenger travel” and “estimated” while throwing numbers around so fast, that even Superman is starting to look a little windburned.

While numbers and statistics are a necessary evil in the realm of progress, reports and city planning, I’m the kind of person who lives life in the blunt lane, so instead of telling me percentages, I need to know how these numbers translate into simple Good Move/Bad Move terms.

On the off chance, that you, too, might be this kind of person, let me translate the newest numbers from our lovely Northwest Florida International Airport.

Continue reading “New Airport STOMPS Old Airport Numbers [REPORT]” →

New Airport To Grace Phonebook Covers

The next time you reach for your phone book to look up a local number, you’ll see the beginnings of an image you’ll come to know intimately in the near future; Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

More than 336,000 copies of this AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory have been produced for distribution in the area this year. Delivery is underway, and will continue through May 10. The directory also will be available to new residents and businesses throughout the year.

“We are pleased to feature the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on the cover of our new AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory for this area,” said Barb Orton, general manager- Emerald Coast region. “We always strive to make our directory covers special on the outside and to tailor the content inside to best serve the needs of our communities. You can count on the AT&T Real Yellow Pages as your complete source of local information.” Continue reading “New Airport To Grace Phonebook Covers” →

Southwest Airline’s New Flight Destinations Welcomed by All

Bob Montgomery, Southwest Airlines vice president of properties announced on Wednesday the new destinations from the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. While disclosing the much awaited news he told that there would be non stop flights to and from the new airport to Orlando, Baltimore, Houston, and Nashville. The announcement of the key destinations would eventually help tourists and regular travelers to get direct or connecting flights to other 58 Southwest gateway cities.

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Southwest Airlines to Announce the Destination Cities

Southwest Airlines will announce the four to and fro flight locations from the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on Wednesday moring.The ceremony will be held at the Breakers Restaurant in Panama City Beach at 10.00 AM. Bob Montgomery, Southwest vice president of properties will make the announcement during a press conference. He will also announce the new special introductory fares for the eight non stop flights from the new international airport.

We’ve been running a poll on which destinations were more favored by our readers to come to Panama City Beach.  The top five respectively were Chicago, New York, Nashville, Dallas, and Baltimore.

The new international airport is expected to be opened on May 18th 2010 with the Southwest flights to operate daily. The Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill said that it was exciting news and everybody would be delighted when southwest announces the low fares.

In the meantime, Bay County Tourist Development Council (TDC) officials will start a public relations campaign in the cities after the announcement is officially made, using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  According to Dan Rowe,TDC executive director, the announcement and selling of the flight tickets would bring energy to the whole project.

The TDC has made an agreement with Southwest, the largest domestic airlines in USA to bring its service to the new airport with daily non stop flights from the four cities. The airline reached an agreement previously with The St. Joe Co., the Panhandle’s largest landowner, that guarantees any losses from its new operations into Northwest Florida for the initial two years. Many experts see the deal as a boost for the economic development of the region.

NEW Airport Construction Aerials Show Airport Almost Complete!

Man, we’re getting so close to landing Canyon Blue planes in Panama City.  Every time I see new aerials I’m thoroughly impressed with how far along the new Northwest Florida International Airport (actually, formally named Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport) is.  Lets get right down to it!

Continue reading “NEW Airport Construction Aerials Show Airport Almost Complete!” →

Southwest Airlines is Coming to Panama City Beach

Ladies and Gents, it’s official: Southwest Airlines has been named the low cost carrier for the Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport. The announcement came early this afternoon at a meeting up at the new airport site.  Most in attendance speculated as to what was happening, but very few actually knew with a surety that at the end of the meeting Southwest Airlines would be Northwest Florida’s new partner in our future economic development.

Continue reading “Southwest Airlines is Coming to Panama City Beach” →

UPDATE: New Airport On Time and On Budget

Monday was Walton County Day and the Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport hosted the Walton Area Chamber of Commerce board meeting under a tent with the new terminal as the backdrop.  Of course, one of the cool things about events like this is that we usually get a pretty good update on how the construction is coming along at the new airport site.

Continue reading “UPDATE: New Airport On Time and On Budget” →

NEW NAME for the Panama City Airport

At this morning’s special-called Airport Authority meeting, the only topic on the table was the new name for the new airport.  For months, this has been a topic of intense debate and we had a HUGE surge of interest here at pcbdaily just three weeks ago with over 100 comments on the article we published about it.

Clearly the most obvious favorite of the bunch was Emerald Coast International, and this name’s popularity rang true with the Airport Authority’s submissions as well.  5 names total were submitted to the board for review today: Emerald Coast International Airport, Northwest Florida International Airport, Florida International Airport, Florida Beaches International Airport and Beaches International Airport.  I was told today that Emerald Coast International could not be used for legal reasons, although I was not told what the reasons were.

Continue reading “NEW NAME for the Panama City Airport” →