Douglas Murphy, head of the southern region of the FAA, was in town last week reviewing plans for the new airport. The current budget plan will expire at the end of September, and at that time, a new budget plan will go into effect possibly delaying the airport 6 to 12 months.

The new plan, dubbed The Next Generation Air Transportation System Financing Reform Act of 2007 (what a mouthful), amongst many other things, will eliminate the domestic ticket tax and frequent flyer tax and instill a larger tax on commercial jet fuel and aviation gasoline.

Technological improvements will include an upgrade from radar to sophisticated gps tracking systems installed in each aircraft that will constantly relay positioning not only to a central control, but also to other planes. Follow the link above for more info.

Back to the airport: Douglas Murphy, while here reconfirmed the FAA’s commitment to the airport relocation and was quoted by the News Herald that it makes sense, and will attract new airlines and possibly low-cost carriers.

In a meeting at 10 am today at the current airport, the Airport Authority is expected to award the old airport site to a purchasing bidder. The board has been reviewing the bids for several months.

The three bidders are:

PCA Development Group – $61 million up front and $14 million over the next 14 years totaling $75 million

Community Airport Redevelopment (from Utah) – $60 million with $10 million at contract

RMC Investors – $56.5 million

In the meeting that was held this morning, the old airport site was awarded to the Pittsburgh-based group, PCA Development. The final price was $99 million with $61 million at closing and $38 million over the next 30 years to come from land/property sale proceeds.

Part of the deal includes a letter of credit from PCA that the airport authority will be able to borrow against during construction of the new airport.

The old airport site is 715 acres. Google maps location.

Apparently there has been some sort of “unauthorized activity” at the new airport site that the Army Corps of Engineers have to look into. The unauthorized activity could include heavy vehicle traffic, and the Corps need to see if there has been any alterations to the land.

Another issue is stemmed from a letter from the NRDC, a New York based environmental group that apparently knows what is best for our area and it’s natural resources. Their concern is the area’s native cypress trees.

There is no set time frame as to when the permit will be issued, although Airport Executive Director Randy Curtis has expressed no real concern and expects the permit to come through soon.

On June 25, 2007, an article was ran in the Orlando Sentinel written by Fred Werner, a pilot from Panama City and President of Friends of PFN. The article has been described by the Beach Chamber of Commerce as wildly inaccurate and touts several non-substantiated “facts”.