This summer, Sheltair opened it’s FBO (short for fixed base operations) at the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.  They are the only FBO at the new airport, and they also operated an FBO at the old Panama City Airport (PFN).

“We are so thrilled to have opened our beautiful, new facility in order to better serve our based, as well as transient customers in the Florida panhandle,” said Danny Walsh, Vice President of Aviation at Sheltair, “This location is truly one of the flagship FBO’s in our network and will now be a gateway for many to some of the most gorgeous beaches and scenery that this state has to offer.”

What is an FBO

An FBO is a Fixed Base Operator that provides aeronautical services at commercial airports.  The Federal Aviation Administration defines an FBO as A commercial business granted the right by the airport sponsor to operate on an airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, etc..

In other words, if you’re a private pilot or a member of the general aviation community, you would use this new facility to come and go from the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

About the new facility

Sheltair had been operating at the new Panama City Beach airport out of a temporary space on the airfield, but they just moved into their new 5,000 square foot facility end of July.  The building was build to LEED Certification standards and is currently in the approval process with the U.S. Green Building Council.

Some of the amenities at the new facility include:

• Spacious passenger lobby
• Conference room
• Pilots lounge
• Flight planning and weather room
• Complimentary interior cleaning
• Catering
• Crew cars
• Cafeteria/vending area
• Complimentary refreshments/snacks
• Wireless Internet

In addition to the main building, Sheltair also offers 1,680 square feet of office rental space and a 9,100 square foot hangar that’s available for lease.

For more information about Sheltair, visit SheltairAviation.com

More pictures

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.

Airport-technology.com noted that “Panama City-Bay County International is expecting to host 600,000 passengers a year by 2020.” and while we may not be to that point, just yet, that number isn’t as daunting as it could be.

Southwest Airlines and Delta Airlines, have both reported an increase in travelers coming and going from our terminals and really, you don’t even need a report from them to find out if the airport is doing it’s job or not. Just go visit. The parking lot is overflowing, there are people waiting to board at gates, and there’s a line to get a hot cup of joe. All these signs say one thing to me, Airport Busy, Bring Book, Big Wait.  Project Airport Relocation is a success.

Basically, our numbers are growing, and despite the chaos from earlier in 2010, we are still seeing a positive increase in passengers. I contacted a Southwest Airlines Communications and Emerging Media Specialist, looking for current numbers. The most recent numbers haven’t been posted from Southwest (publicly) since they typically work on a quarterly base, but I was directed to the RITA site.

RITA, stands for Research and Innovative Technology Administration. RITA offers vital transportation statistics and analysis, and supports national efforts to improve education and training in transportation-related fields. In short, it’s a Department of Transportation site.

The stats posted for Panama City/ International Airport reads as follows:

May 2010

• 11,000 Arrivals, Ranked 351
• 9,209 Departures, Ranked 364

*Ranked among 823 US Airports, 12 months ending May 2010

July 2010

• 91,000 Arrivals, Ranked 218
• 89,000 Departures, Ranked 220

*Ranked among 820 US Airports, 12 months ending July 2010

September 2010

• 158,000 Arrivals, Ranked 183
• 157,000 Departures, Ranked 183

*Ranked among 816 US Airports, 12 months ending September 2010

My call to the actual airport confirmed more recent numbers, listed from May 23 through Nov 30. The amount of passengers the airport has seen trolloping through its building, runs at a respectable 446,135.

To be blunt, the airport is doing great and the coming year has enormous potential. The sheer volume of passengers is likely to continue it’s upswing, improvements will be made at the Airport as seen fit, and traveling in and out of Panama City Beach has never been easier.

Interesting side note though, if you look at the numbers from July, it looks like people fly in to Panama City…but few fly out. Thank you America, you love us! You really love us! One way ticket to the Emerald Coast please!

The next time you reach for your phone book to look up a local number, you’ll see the beginnings of an image you’ll come to know intimately in the near future; Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

More than 336,000 copies of this AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory have been produced for distribution in the area this year. Delivery is underway, and will continue through May 10. The directory also will be available to new residents and businesses throughout the year.

“We are pleased to feature the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on the cover of our new AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory for this area,” said Barb Orton, general manager- Emerald Coast region. “We always strive to make our directory covers special on the outside and to tailor the content inside to best serve the needs of our communities. You can count on the AT&T Real Yellow Pages as your complete source of local information.”

“We are very proud of this new airport, and what it means to our region from a tourism and economic development perspective,” said Randy Curtis, executive director of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. “I’m pleased Panama City residents will be reminded all year long as they use the AT&T Real Yellow Pages of our new airport, and how important it is to our entire area.”
The Airport Authority has set a date of May 23, 2010 for the new airport’s opening.

As new books are delivered, Panama City-area businesses and residents are encouraged to recycle their outdated directories. AT&T Real Yellow Pages directories are recyclable, and the paper used to print the directories contains recycled materials. Residents and businesses can call the AT&T Real Yellow Pages Project ReDirectory help line, listed on the directory cover, at 800-953-4400 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              800-953-4400      end_of_the_skype_highlighting for directory recycling information in this community.

Bob Montgomery, Southwest Airlines vice president of properties announced on Wednesday the new destinations from the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. While disclosing the much awaited news he told that there would be non stop flights to and from the new airport to Orlando, Baltimore, Houston, and Nashville. The announcement of the key destinations would eventually help tourists and regular travelers to get direct or connecting flights to other 58 Southwest gateway cities.

“We’ve tried to pick our finest,” Montgomery said. The new flights would serve about 2000 travelers per day. According to Christi Day, a spokeswoman of Southwest, the four destinations were chosen to draw visitors from those areas who were less frequent visitors to Panama City Beach. Further the new cities would open new markets to North Florida.  According to the Airport Authority, the one goal of the new $318 million airport was to market Florida to more vacationers.

Airport board member Rick Koehnemann said that travelers would be able to fly direct, without changing the flights to Chicago through Nashville (BNA), New York through Baltimore, and Dallas through Houston (HOU) and Ft. Lauderdale through Orlando. It would take three hours to fly between Chicago and Panama City with a short stop in Nashville. “You get four direct flights and four semi-direct flights,”Mr.Rick Koehnemann said.

Sonny Mares, executive director of the Beaches of South Walton Tourist Development Council, also welcomed the new announcements from Southwest Airlines. According to her, Baltimore was a great location for conventions and meetings and as such would help to increase group meeting business.

According to Tom Neubauer, the President of Bay Defense Alliance, a Baltimore-Washington route would be beneficial to the defense contractors who travel frequently from Washington to Baltimore.

Meanwhile, the Bay Country Tourism Development Council (TDC) has begun its public relations campaign through press releases, photos, video and other material about Panama City Beach. The TDC’s findings indicate that there are more than 3 million households in the four cities chosen by Southwest as potential markets for bringing business to Panama City Beach.

Southwest Airlines will announce the four to and fro flight locations from the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport on Wednesday moring.The ceremony will be held at the Breakers Restaurant in Panama City Beach at 10.00 AM. Bob Montgomery, Southwest vice president of properties will make the announcement during a press conference. He will also announce the new special introductory fares for the eight non stop flights from the new international airport.

We’ve been running a poll on which destinations were more favored by our readers to come to Panama City Beach.  The top five respectively were Chicago, New York, Nashville, Dallas, and Baltimore.

The new international airport is expected to be opened on May 18^th 2010 with the Southwest flights to operate daily. The Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill said that it was exciting news and everybody would be delighted when southwest announces the low fares.

In the meantime, Bay County Tourist Development Council (TDC) officials will start a public relations campaign in the cities after the announcement is officially made, using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.  According to Dan Rowe,TDC executive director, the announcement and selling of the flight tickets would bring energy to the whole project.

The TDC has made an agreement with Southwest, the largest domestic airlines in USA to bring its service to the new airport with daily non stop flights from the four cities. The airline reached an agreement previously with The St. Joe Co., the Panhandle’s largest landowner, that guarantees any losses from its new operations into Northwest Florida for the initial two years. Many experts see the deal as a boost for the economic development of the region.

Man, we’re getting so close to landing Canyon Blue planes in Panama City.  Every time I see new aerials I’m thoroughly impressed with how far along the new Northwest Florida International Airport (actually, formally named Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport) is.  Lets get right down to it!

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This shows the huge progress made on the terminal.  You can see the airtraffic control tower to the left and the main parking area in the upper left side of the image.

You can see down the length of the runway in this image.  the darker pavement to the left is the main taxiway.  To the left out of frame, there is space prepared for a parallel 10,000 foot runway that could be built in the future when demand is met.

In this image, the terminal actually is looking pretty complete.  Well, actually from the outside, it pretty much is.  I have no idea what those buildings are in the bottom right hand segment of the image.

In this image you can see one of the retention ponds.  Across the site there are several large retention ponds to help deal with run-off and run it through a series of complex filtration systems before it is circulated back into the environment.

This is looking out past the terminal area, it looks quite small in this image.  Not actually sure what that area is right in the middle of the frame, does anyone know?

Ladies and Gents, it’s official: Southwest Airlines has been named the low cost carrier for the Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport. The announcement came early this afternoon at a meeting up at the new airport site.  Most in attendance speculated as to what was happening, but very few actually knew with a surety that at the end of the meeting Southwest Airlines would be Northwest Florida’s new partner in our future economic development.

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The whole event was lined with hundreds of white fold-up chairs, cloth-covered tables adorned with Econfina water bottles and black plastic bags holding “stuff,” as it was described to me.  A stage with nicer chairs was set up and ProTech Services was on site with Neves Media setting up sound, light, and syncing a live stream through Skype to patch through direct communication with some distant unknown entity.

Cebo walked up to me a little before 12:30 and said, “Dude, you would not believe who I just met,” after a pause, “Bob Montgomery, one of the VP’s of Southwest.”  Cool.

On my way up to the airport site, I called a contact that I have that has been in the middle of many of the Southwest discussions.  When asked about the secrecy behind what was going to happen today, he reminded me that Southwest and St. Joe are publicly traded companies and the secrecy is essential to ensure all fairness in the marketplace.  Furthermore he said that regarding the situation, it would probably be pretty safe to assume as to exactly what was going to happen today.  I saw him later at the event and he remarked, “Jason, I can’t believe we’ve made it, just amazing.”  Indeed.

The event started with the CEO of Southwest Airlines, Garry Kelly announcing profitability numbers stating that even with the modest profit they’ve realized in the past quarter, any profit today is promising.  Kelly was in Dallas, but his video image and voice was being broadcast live in the new terminal at the Northwest Florida Panama City International Airport.  He immediately followed his initial reports with the announcement that Southwest Airlines is expanding into a new market in May, and that market is the new International Airport in Panama City Florida.

The buzz surrounding the announcement couldn’t be contained before Bob Montgomery, vice-president of properties at Southwest Airlines, took the stage and turned that buzz into full-on electricity. “We will be bringing two daily flights from four destinations,” Mr. Montgomery said, “which makes eight non-stop flights. That’s almost 2,000 seats coming into the Northwest Florida region every day. By December you’ll have an announcement on fares and schedules and by May 2010 you’ll see our canyon-blue jets flying over your white, sandy beach and clear waters.”

That’s big news.

From Southwest Airlines’ Blog, BlogSouthwest.com:

The biggest news of the day is that Southwest intends to begin service at the brand-new International Airport being built near Panama City, Florida next May.  We’re bringing low fares and GREAT service to the land of sugar-white-sand beaches, incredibly gentle blue waters, and an amazing variety of visitor accommodations just in time for vacation season, Summer, 2010!  Up until Southwest’s arrival, this part of Northwest Florida has been plagued by high fares and a lack of full-sized airline service.  We’re going to change that.  Southwest’s entry into the Panama City market will make it possible for all of America to experience the incredible beauty of Northwest Florida!

Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp reiterated this point saying, “Having Southwest encourages people to want to vacation here, buy houses and move here. When they get here they’ll fall in love, just like I did, with the natural beauty and the warmth of the people.”

This great news has taken us all off the edge of our seats and allows us to settle in, focus on the future and prepare to maximize this unprecedented opportunity. So fasten your seat belts and place all tray tables in the upright position. Panama City Beach is going places, and it’s going to be a great ride.

Southwest plans to announce schedules and servicing destinations in December.

This article was co-written by Cebo Campbell.

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.

Randy Curtis, the Airport’s Executive Director, explained that the construction was “on time and on budget,” citing that “we are our own stimulus plan employing 300 to 400 workers.”

The main runway is currently 8,400 feet and it 100% complete, lights, distance markers and all.  When the airport opens the main runway will be 10,000 feet; the final 1,600 feet is pending FAA approval.  I was told that the delay on this may be attributed to the environmental challenges the new airport site has had regarding retaining grass structure that helps with the waterflow on the property. The entire airport is now 75% complete.

Curtis also talked briefly about the $4 million grant the airport received for the new state-of-the-art baggage and security system that will be placed within the terminal.  In a previous article by Cebo, he quoted Steve Earnest, Federal Security Director: “This technology will strengthen security and streamline the baggage screening process.” He added, “This baggage handling system will better enable Panama City-Bay County International Airport to detect explosives and other threats while allowing for the growth of the new airport.”  Cebo goes on to say, “What this means for you is a faster, safer and more efficient Checkin process. . .  It will be the most up to date, efficient system in America.”

Currently the immigration and customs services at the existing airport operate out of Port Panama City, but at the new airport, the ICE will have their own onsite facility.

When asked, Curtis explained that the existing runway at the current airport is a mere 6,300 feet.  He said that planes of today’s sophistication have trouble taking off and landing at this length.  He explained that 10,000 feet will accommodate planes of almost every size and that in the plans of the main runway the entire length will be 12,000 feet, capable of accepting the largest of the wide-bodied cargo planes.

Initially the terminal will be capable of having 7 gates with the capability to quickly expand to 14 gates when demand dictates expansion.  The total footprint of the airport site is 4,000 acres which is a huge increase over the existing site which is around 700 acres.  The footprint of the current development at the new airport site is around 1,500 acres.  The unused space is to ensure that there is plenty of room for expansion in the future.  Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport is around 4,000 acres.

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.

The Authority discussed the need for a name that had regional application, but still defined where the traveler was coming to.  A name that was regional in nature is needed to entice low-cost carriers to our area because it has the insinuation of a broader service base.  And that’s true, isn’t it?  The new airport will very much serve our area in a regional way attracting those whose final destination could range anywhere from Pensacola to Tallahassee and beyond.

So, I’ve held you off long enough, are you sitting on the edge of your seat yet?  The new name for the new Panama City Airport is: Northwest Florida – Panama City International Airport.  I know it’s a mouthful, but the Authority believed the need to retain the Panama City affiliation in the name so as to ensure people understood that they were flying into our charming area.  I say, who cares, but what do I know.

“After listening to the extensive feedback and gathering suggestions from the community, we decided to go with a name that reflects the geographic area the new airport will serve,” said Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill.  “This truly is Northwest Florida’s international airport and will be this region’s gateway to the world – and the world’s gateway to our region,” said Airport Authority Vice Chairman Bill Cramer.

With the new name ALSO comes a new three letter airport identifier code.  This has yet to be chosen but Randy Curtis said that PCI is available.  In some previous posts it was commented that at no time in history as an identifier changed for an existing airport, but I’d like to point out that we are getting an entirely new airport, therefore, everything can change!

With the new name will come an entirely new era of travel to our region of Florida.  I know there are issues with grass right now, and the stormwater runoff isn’t completely under control yet, but I’m confident that these are all issues that will be taken care of in due time.  The impact this new airport will have on our area will change us forever.

Boy how time flies when you’re having fun.  With construction to end in just 8 short months and planes to start landing on the new runway the construction process seems to be flying by.  I remember thinking how far away May 2010 seemed when they started construction.