New Int'l airport opens in Panama City Beach

[reednavy]

Well, after over a decade of planning and over 2 years of construction, Northwest Florida Beaches Int'l Airport is ready to open in about 6 hours. The first flight landed earlier this afternoon carrying SWA employees and was welcomed by water canons and thousands of people.

This is America's first international airport to open since Denver Int'l in 1995 and the first since 9/11. This is the catalyst to a new wave of tourists and development for the Panhandle, especially for Bay County.

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/94663964.html
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/94672219.html
http://www.newsherald.com/news/west-84064-airport-bay.html

The old Panama City-Bay County Int'l Airport officially closed to commercial aviation at 1800 this evening, with general aviation relocating in about a month.

KPFN will no longer be used, and KECP will take over tomorrow morning.

[buckethead]

Is it international in the same sense as JIA (JAX)?

[reednavy]

Is it international in the same sense as JIA (JAX)?

yes, it has U.S. Customs facilities, but no true int'l flights, yet.

[Mattius92]

I read about that airport a few weeks ago. And yes this is good news for the poeple of Panama City. Hopefully they will grow and so will their city. I believe St. Joe had a big part in the creation of the Airport. They were proactive and built an 10,000' runway that is long enough to land aircraft as large as an Boeing 767. However you probably wont be seeing any Boeings using the airport anytime soon.

[reednavy]

I read about that airport a few weeks ago. And yes this is good news for the poeple of Panama City. Hopefully they will grow and so will their city. I believe St. Joe had a big part in the creation of the Airport. They were proactive and built an 10,000' runway that is long enough to land aircraft as large as an Boeing 767. However you probably wont be seeing any Boeings using the airport anytime soon.

Huh? Southwest uses Boeings, and they built that runway to accomodate the Airbus A380 and 747s as they plan to grow not only with commercial traffic but cargo traffic as well. They are in talks with at least one or two Latin American air cargo companies.

The airport board is also in talks with Air Canada, as a large number of tourists are from Ontario and Quebec, especially in the winter.

[Mattius92]

Yeah in general sense B747s can land on a 10,000' runway (JIA can land B747s and has), but B747s and A380s are not going to be landing there anytime soon.

And after reading about Southwest's current fleet, they do use B737s at the new airport, though they seat 130 and according to the article the first flight had about 30 passengers. Hope it picks up because that isn't going to be profitable. However I am sure Delta will be using small regional jets for that airport, and maybe on occasion an B737.

[reednavy]

Delta will be using MD-88s and will likely increase the size planes and # of flights as needed.

http://www.newsherald.com/articles/airport-81715-new-delta.html

The first flight from Baltimore was completely full, as it was continuing on to Orlando likely had a part in that. However, next weekend is Memorial Day, so expect completely full planes probably from all destinations.

[Mattius92]

Reednavy you are a tough man, but I will shut up now.

Hey have you ever looked at the JIA master plan before, its quite interesting what they have in plan. The plans for the renovation of concourse B are pretty nifty.

[reednavy]

I'm wondering when they'll have a new website up and running. As of this morning, they still have the old Panama City-Bay Co. Int'l website up and no site pertaining to the NW FL Beaches Int'l outside of the construction update page.

Since this is such a major project and critical development, they should've had the new website up and running no later than Saturday for the public grand opening.

[Mattius92]

That is true, I guess you have to use phone or go to the actual airport to get any information. They better get their website up pronto!

[reednavy]

I just remembered that the airport board has reportedly been talking to German carrier Lufthansa since last year. Now whether this goes anywhere is anybody's guess, but hopefully the can build a relationship and get something going.

PCB has been marketing themselves to European travelers the past few years and it has been working, granted only a small percentage of the overall # of tourists, but that says something.

Now, if ECP gets a true international flight before JIA does, then that'll be a shocker.

[Mattius92]

Now, if ECP gets a true international flight before JIA does, then that'll be a shocker.

Not only would it be a shocker, we would have to wonder why, that our airport, JIA, has been around 50 years and hasn't had an international flight. And then we have this new airport that gets one within a year or so of it opening. Now that would be a shame.

The thing about JIA, is they have to compete with Orlando, Atlanta and Miami, mega-hubs. The Panama City airport is in a pretty strategic location, since there is like no International Airports within several hundred miles of the place.

[fsujax]

If I am not mistaken, our airport has had international flights before.

[Cricket]

If I am not mistaken, our airport has had international flights before.

However you slice it, JIA is NOT an international airport, which is the reason I think this PCB airport might just be another misnomer. Unfortunately so, since I hate having to stop in MIA, the worst airport in the country, if not in the world, on my way to and from the Caribbean. 

[Mattius92]

If I am not mistaken, our airport has had international flights before.

And yeah that landed larger planes before. All this happened before the economy started to plummet. Now Airlines are cutting as much cost as they can.

And currently our Airport should be called Jacksonville Regional Airport. However I think any airport that can support International Air flight can have the international name. Since we have had international flights before we can be considered an international airport. The new Panama City airport has customs and etc. so it can support international flights too. So therefore it can have the international name.