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.

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Details of Southwest Airlines and St. Joe "Partnership"

It was made quite clear by Bob Montgomery, Vice President of Properties for Southwest Airlines, that if it weren’t for St. Joe, Southwest Airlines wouldn’t be coming to Panama City. The discussions between St. Joe and Southwest Airlines began over a decade ago. One of the things that was explained to me a short while ago was that Southwest Airlines can go where ever they want to go; they just pick an airport, and the airport accommodates. I was told that Southwest coming to Panama City made absolutely no sense from a business perspective and the prospect encompassed more risk than a company like Southwest would be willing to take. But, what if the risk was mitigated by a third party? That was their ticket into our market.

Read on for all the facts.

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Pensacola Paper Shows Bitterness towards Southwest

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.”

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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.

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