Proud of their latest destination portfolio addition, Southwest Airlines included Panama City as one of their top stories in their first edition In A Nutshell email newsletter. “Grab your beach ball, it’s on!” the first sentence says. Other announcements in the newsletter include a Bags Fly Free Video Contest and an introduction to their “Green Plane”.
Thought this was cool as there’s no telling how many people saw this. My dad sent it to me, and he’s in Dallas, TX.
Tuesday the Airport Authority met and again discussed the new name for the new airport that is currently under construction in North Bay County. The Board met a few weeks back and decided upon the name Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport, much to the dismay of local tourism industry leaders and government officials. The justification of the previously picked new name by the board consisted of wanting to give Panama City credit for nurturing the new airport project along and ensure travelers to our area knew and understood that they were coming to Panama City.
But, I think that being sure that people know they are coming to Panama City is contradictory to the mission as a whole here.
In an article in the Pensacola News Journal, writer Carlton Proctor is open with his resentment towards Southwest Airlines in an unrealistic bash on the popular airline. Southwest Airlines recently chose the New Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport as their newest addition to an already vast portfolio of service areas. Proctor uses casual banter and poorly researched and inaccurate facts to make an argument that is neither relevant nor credible.
Read on to see how I break down his “paper.”
Continue reading “Pensacola Paper Shows Bitterness towards Southwest”
I want to start this out with stating that this is complete rumor-mill at this point; but we’ll have dialogue below that assumes this is true. With that said, I received an email citing an unnamed source had informed him that in order to maintain and build market share, Delta/Northwest will begin lowering fares in November to build a better market base before Southwest begins service in May. Also, there is a good possibility that when the new airport opens, Delta/Northwest may bring in larger aircraft to serve our marketplace.
Hit the read more link to get the scoop.
Continue reading “Southwest May Push Competing Fares Lower at Existing Airport”
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”
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.
With the new airport wet on their lips, all the local and not so local media has been eating up the “airport wars” stories that have been ensuing over the battle for Southwest Airlines. Today, it would seem, that everyone is vying for them; everyone in Northwest Florida, that is. In fact, in the last 60 days alone, all of a sudden VPS (or Northwest Florida Regional Airport in Ft. Walton) and Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport have made very public efforts to woo Southwest in their direction.
Today, at a YP@TheBeach (Young Professionals AT The Beach) luncheon we had the great pleasure of listening to Representative Jimmy Patronis describe how he grew as a Young Professional into his career in politics. Jimmy, as always, it was great to see you. I asked about the progress with Southwest Airlines and whether we were any closer to seeing a commitment from them to come to our new airport. The short answer is below, but let me spell out the long answer as he did to us, as it is definitely worth telling.
This area needs it.
Southwest Airlines’ flight destination plan is laid out in a mesh-style pattern. Picture circles all over the US in which their radius is about a 5 hour drive. Right now, you’ll see an airport that services Southwest right in the middle of each make-believe circle. Of course, this is only applicable in areas with a particular and significant population size. Right now, there is a Southwest airport in New Orleans, Jackson MS, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, but a void in our little stretch of the country. In order for them to keep with their mesh-style plan, they need one in our part of the country.
Pensacola won’t work.
Right now, servicing Pensacola is Air Tran, a great low-cost carrier. Often times they offer great competitive rates to most large cities and many smaller cities a lot of the time, non-stop. Pensacola is also about 200 miles from New Orleans, or within about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive – really too close to be considered not a competitional threat to existing operations in southern Louisiana. In addition, as it was explained to me, Southwest counts the number of street lights you have to go through to get into the airport and weighs that in regarding ease of access. As I understand it, Pensacola is not easy for travelers to come into.
Just students and government folk in Tallahassee.
If you think about who is coming and going in Tallahassee, there’s not much need for a low cost carrier to service that destination. They have adequate flights coming and going and the traffic to that destination isn’t likely to change because of a new airport. The future travel growth there has no real upward potential.
Dothan’s great, but they have no need either.
Same story, different location. There’s a lot of great people, great industry, and great money, but who’s traveling there, how much are the people there traveling out, and what is the future potential for travel growth for Dothan, Alabama.
Despite what they say, Ft. Walton just can’t handle Southwest Airlines.
This is the big one folks, and it isn’t likely to make our neighbors to the west of here very happy, but these are the facts. The Ft. Walton Airport, aka Northwest Florida Regional Airport, aka VPS is sharing their on-ground and in-air operations with the Department of Defense. This shared arrangement limits their flight operations to 100 total flights per day; that’s 50 flights in and 50 flights out. Currently they are using 60% of their daily operational capacity. Why in the world would a company as successful as Southwest Airlines come into an environment where right off the bat they would be limited as to what their future potential growth at that airport could be.
You see, it is all about the future. This is where so many opponents to the airport have missed the mark in their arguments. They focus on operations right now at the current airport and say we’re under capacity. Well, yeah, of course we are. Have you checked to see how much it costs to fly in and out of here lately? If we had a carrier that could bring low cost airfare to our neck of the woods, don’t you think we would get that business that drives to Dothan, Tallahassee and Northwest Florida Regional? What’s that you say? No numbers of real importance actually travel 1 to 2 hours away to save on airfare. Wanna bet?
At the new airport, Southwest has unlimited potential for future growth. Furthermore, I’d be willing to bet that they could have significant influence on how infrastructure is laid out at the new facility to best suit their needs. Furthermore still, they have $2.2 million each year to back any advertising to help drive people to use their service to fly to Panama City. In addition to all that, there is very likely to be a huge demand in travel to our destination over the next couple of years as many of the areas that could not travel here before can now get here with ease. And, to cap it all off, we are right smack dab in the middle of one of the concentric circles that virtually map out where each airport servicing Southwest Airlines will be.
Southwest Airlines was referred to as the “golden goose” of airlines in this morning’s paper because despite the tumultuous times in the airline industry, they, for the most part, have remained in the black. Their business model and growth plan fits perfectly with the ideals of Panama City and we would make a perfect fit for their next step. Hundreds of thousands of people have yet to discover the marvel that is Panama City Beach and that business is not only ripe for the picking by our area, but also Southwest Airlines.
Southeast Real Estate Business News, a trade publication for the real estate industry, featured the construction of the new Panama City – Bay County International Airport as its July 2009 cover story.
According to the story:
The facility is the first piece in the West Bay Sector Plan, a mixed-use project destined for Panama City, Florida, and surrounding areas. The aggressive but environmentally responsible development strategy calls for residential, commercial and industrial space spread across 75,000 acres.
One large advantage of the plan is that it’s easy to build to each tenant’s specifications. With so much greenfield land available for developing, officials at large companies can easily come in, commit to a space and mold it to their requirements. “Most of the time, your options are limited because you have a small piece of land and everything around it is already developed,” Slappey says. “The advantage is that if you have a big user that comes in and wants this, that and the other, it’s easier to accommodate them because you have a lot more land to maneuver around.”
The full article can be read here.
Commerical Property News’ CPN Online has published an article detailing the economic development potential of the new Panama City – Bay County International Airport.
According to CPN Online:
Most of the country is waiting for the economy to turn, or even for the federal stimulus to have some measurable effect on local economies, but at least one part of the country has a third option. In the Florida panhandle, in particular the Panama City area, a new international airport–under construction, scheduled for completion next year–promises economic stimulation, both in terms of business growth and real estate development.
“A new business community will be able to grow around the new airport in a way that’s impossible around the existing airport, which is too small and too hemmed in for further expansion,” Randall S. Curtis, executive director of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport, told CPN. “But the long-term impact will involve more than development in the immediate vicinity of the airport. The entire region stands to benefit.”
The full article can be read here.
Source: www.newpcairport.com
Brand New Name:
This is a big one. What’s in a name? Everything. A name identifies what something is and can convey the magnitude of its existence. Panama City-Bay County International Airport just isn’t going to cut it for a 10,000 foot 4,000 acre international airport capable of receiving the largest of passenger jets from anywhere in the world. We need a name that conveys a much larger representation. Suggestions here on Pcbdaily have included Sunshine State International Airport, Emerald Coast International Airport, Florida International Airport, Gulf of Mexico International Airport, and Southern U.S. Intercontinental Airport. Several readers in a previous post emphasized their favor towards Emerald Coast International Airport. This name will literally be in front of millions, and the first impression that is imminent needs to be great.
Better Sense of Arrival on Highway 79:
What is the first thing fliers will see when they are driving down to our beautiful snow-white sand beaches? A newly widened road with power lines and no landscaping; snore. We need to excite them with a fantastic sense of arrival, a road adorned with huge, gorgeous palm trees, lush green grass, sidewalks, curbs, street lights, and underground utilities. Put simply, it needs to look just like Beckrich , ‘er’uh’ R. Jackson Blvd. This is another one of those “first-impression” things that we can’t afford to screw up. I know that “officials” will say that there is a reason that we are doing the CRA in the order that it’s being done, but we need to find a way to change it up. Highway 79 needs to be top priority, then next Front Beach Road needs to be addressed.
Improve Front Beach Road First:
It was remarked in another post’s comments that more emphasis needs to be placed on Front Beach Road’s improvements than on the improvements of the north/south corridors. This is so true, tourists spend most of their time driving on Back Beach Road and Front Beach Road and very little time on the roads taking them in between. Why did we spend money improving Churchwell, then Beckrich first? Now we’re moving onto south and north Thomas Drive? I know these areas needed improvements, badly, but we need to focus on what is more responsible regarding servicing our number one customers, tourists. They don’t care what Beckrich looks like, they don’t EVER drive on Churchwell , but they see (and remark to me all the time, frankly) the ugly power lines and crave sidewalks to accent their stay with a little recreation. This needs to be addressed NOW.
We’ve Got to Reintroduce Ourselves to the World:
Known as the redneck riviera and the spring break capital of the world (I don’t even want to dignify those titles with capital letters) we’ve got to totally re-introduce ourselves to the world. Comments that came out of recent focus group sessions that took place in Atlanta discussing Panama City Beach were very revealing. 100% of the people in attendance had traveled to Panama City Beach, yet we were given the least favorable rating when compared to neighboring destinations. Quoting a commenter, Bryan Durta, explaining remarks of some of the focus group attendees, “Negative comments included tacky, kinda like being at a bar with a bunch of drunks, dirty, rednecky, party city, too honky-tonky, and lots of cigarette butts on the beach.” We need people to not only think of us as a classy destination that they’d want to come back to in a heart beat, but a classy destination that they’d recommend to their friends just as quick. How do we do this? We do this through innovative PR and Marketing efforts, much of which is much under way – bravo Jennifer Barbee Inc. and the CVB Marketing Team.
We Need a Year-round Destination
Every year businesses across the beach close down to save on expenses because the cost of operating exceeds the money they make during the winter season. In Panama City Beach, we need to create more things for winter travelers to do so as to attract some of that shoulder-season money. Right now, there are quite a few events that bolster weekend traffic during a time in which long weekends are king, but we need more. And, they have to be good, real good. We’re doing great, but we need to do better. Events like the Panama City Beach Seafood Music and Wine Festival and Pier Park’s New Year’s Eve Beach Ball Drop have been immensely successful in the past, and will continue to bring people to our beaches year after year. In addition, we need to better market to our winter-traveling retired friends. We need to be sure that we have promotional materials created speaking directly to them and ensure they know we exist.
Transportation Sector:
In order for us to prepare for all the new people that will be traveling to our little slice of paradise, we need to centralize our transit system and educate our “transportation representatives”, aka cab-drivers. We need a standardized licensing and education system to be sure that the first people that our tourists spend time with are not only knowledgeable, but that they are courteous as well. In addition, in order to ensure a pleasurable experience, we need to be sure that the cab cars are of consistent quality and that the first impression of our new visitors is great enough to keep them coming back for years to come.
Standardized Hospitality Training
Here we go on the training thing again, but it is just so important. Who is the first person you see when you check into your resort on vacation? The person working the front desk. So, if that person is grouchy, or doesn’t speak English or is just plain rude – how will that set the stage for your vacation? I wouldn’t feel happy, and neither would many tourists. The Resort Collection of Panama City Beach’s Edgewater Beach Resort teamed up with Gulf Coast Community College last fall to create a 20 hour training course that provides the hospitality and tourism businesses in our community with a consistent industry wide training program to increase customer service standards and the customer’s experience while visiting our destination. This not only ensures that the people meeting our visitors are trained in how to interact with them, but that they are interacting in a quality that is consistent all down the beach.
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