Florida Panhandle to get new airport

The obstacles to constructing a new airport in this country are formidable, so formidable that no all-new commercial field has opened in the United States since September 11, 2001. That's set to change.

Ground has been broken on the new Panama City-Bay County International Airport, an aerodrome designed to serve the fast-growing west Florida region. Plans are to open the new field in the first quarter of 2010.

One of the obstacles to any new airport, anywhere, is preservation of the environment. That environment is of special concern in the Florida Panhandle, with its sugar-sand beaches, fragile marshes, and seat oats.

To be built on a 1,300-acre site in the West Bay Area, Florida Governor Charlie Crist insists that the new airport will be “a national model for economic transformation and environmental preservation”. It's designed to serve the needs of the region for the next half century.

A larger, more capable airport will certainly be welcome to the snowbirds who are descending on this section of Florida. While south Florida and Tampa get the lion's share of vacationers, west Florida has been better known to regional residents, folks from neighboring Alabama for example. A new airport opens the area to a potential influx of flights from the rest of the country, possibly even internationally.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler