Photo Credit: faz the persian
A new Panama City Beach airport will open on May 23 in Florida's panhandle coast. The Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport is the first international airport to open in over a decade. Panama City Beach condos aren't just for the spring break crowd anymore, so tourism officials in the area want to make the region accessible to a variety of travelers. As much a real estate project as it is a transportation development, the building of the new airport required a great deal of land. By converting the land into a functional travel hub, new possibilities are on the horizon for Panama City Beach.
The St. Joe Company donated the land for the airport and owns thousands of acres of land in northwest Florida. The company used to be in the timber and paper business but is now focused on development and real estate. They liken Panama City Beach to the Silicon Valley; once a difficult to reach destination, making travel to the Silicon Valley easier allowed it to be become the booming business area that it is today.
Panama City-Bay County International Airport is the current Panama City Beach airport. It hosts 11 departures a day and sees about 160,000 passengers a year. Larger planes in the new airport could triple the yearly number of air passengers in the area by 2018. Southwest and Delta are two major airlines that will be transporting visitors to Panama City Beach when the airport opens in May.
Making travel easier for tourists seems to be a popular approach to getting new visitors to some of the country's best vacation destinations. Last year, Branson Airport opened to make the route to Branson speedier than by car or bus. On May 17, Branson AirExpress--a new airline focused on expanding travel to the area--will start hosting flights at the airport. The same philosophy seems to be the driving force behind the new Panama City Beach airport.
