It’s been over a month since we’ve visited the new airport site and boy has it come a long way; no more construction trailers, no more hard hats, just gorgeous grass and colorful landscaping all around what can be considered Panama City Beach’s newest and best attraction.
See All The Photos Below
It’s been a long time coming, but the wait is almost over. The brand new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport opens on May 23rd, 2010, and Panama City Beach is abuzz with the excitement! Continue reading “Let the Countdown Begin: Airport Opening Just One Week Away!”
Check out all the new aerial shots of the new airport
As we all wonder how the new airport and having Southwest Airlines as our low cost carrier will effect Panama City Beach, members of the TDC along with Lou Hammond Agency have teamed up with Southwest to go well beyond speculation and into some serious action. Don’t believe me, check out this new Southwest Airlines ad and tell me when was the last ad you saw from SW that actually names the city?
The TDC has hit all the fly markets in Houston, Baltimore, Nashville and Orlando branding Panama City Beach as an undiscovered beach community. In fact, the tag line on much of the in-flight print advertising reads “17 Hidden Beaches, 1 Revealing Destination” written in the white sands of Northwest Florida Beaches.
The marketing campaign expands far larger than anything Panama City Beach has ventured to do in past campaigns, including TV air time in places like Good Morning America, Fox Business, Great Day Houston and Tennessee Mornings as well as regional newspapers like Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal and even New York Times. Check out this awesome article from the Tennessean.
From the looks of it, the TDC is doing its job. Those who believe the new airports effects on Panama City Beach will be minor, please note that the people in charge are putting in long hours to make sure the opposite is true.
One of PCBDaily.com’s most popular topics is the new Northwest Florida Beach International Airport. Whether it’s a big development or just a few pics of the site, interest is always high. Well, Young Professionals @ THE Beach is offering you a chance to check out the site for your self with an Airport tour on Wednesday, April 14th.
If you want to join YP at THE Beach for a pre-opening tour of the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, the group will meet at Shades at the Loop at 3 PM and will depart from there, via shuttle, to the airport.
This is a great opportunity to tour this amazing facility before it opens to the public!
There is a limited number of spaces available. You can register by contacting Wendy Radke via phone or email.
Wendy Radke
Walton Area Chamber of Commerce
(850) 267-0683
wendy@waltonareachamber.com
We spent the afternoon touring the new airport site. From the outside, there is still so much land-work to do one would think the open date set for May 23rd is utterly unreachable. But, once we ventured into the terminal it became clear that the airport will definitely make its date. Already, many of the necessary systems are in place, the drywall is up and tile being laid. The baggage claim area is nearly complete and upstairs 4 of the 7 gate bridges are already in place. We even took the 10 story trip up the control tower and took in the view of the whole place and, man, it looks spectacular. I could bore you with all the superlatives, but, why would I when I have pictures. Take a look.
As many anticipate the low cost fares and benefits of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, the question remains as to whether the airport will still open on its projected date, which was already pushed back from its tentative date of May 18th to May 23rd.
In a recent Newsherald article, Airport Authority board Chairman Joe Tannehill admitted concerns with potential delays. But even as the big event nears the 12th hour, Mr. Tannehill endorsed that the airport, through everything, is still “on time and on budget.”
If the airport is still on schedule, what does that mean for people trying to book one of the much-talked about ECP flights? Southwest is already showing direct flights into Orlando available for $75 and flights to Baltimore available for $109 starting on May 23rd. You could, theoretically, book a flight for May right now, supporting Tannehill’s belief on making the deadlines.
What will be interesting is what effect the flights will have on other airlines and nearby airports. If I can get a flight to Orlando for only $75 on Southwest, Delta might want to bring some better sauce if I am going to spend my money on them. And what about Tallahassee airport? What will all those business folks do when they realize that they can drive to Panama City Beach and save hundreds on a flight?
If you aren’t excited yet, now would be a good time.
Over the course of the last 2 months following Coastal Vision 3000’s announcement of its disbanding, numerous articles have been written, many speculative, as to what caused the doors to close. Even more were curious as to the declaration of, “Mission Accomplished,” and what goals of Coastal Vision 3,000 were actually achieved. To answer our questions, we went directly to the source, Mr. Davage “Buddy” Runnels, who served as the chairman of CV3’s board. In his view, the mission was accomplished, but not yet completed. Continue reading “Mission Accomplished: An Interview with Coastal Vision 3,000’s Buddy Runnels”
The Federal Aviation Administration has assigned a new three-letter identifier to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International airport now under construction in West Bay, Florida.
Continue reading “New Airport gets New Call Letters, Bye Bye PFN”
Well folks, we’ve done it again. You see them here first – new aerials of the new Panama City Airport have been released and they show the runway extension of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport as almost complete.
PCBDaily 