Pensacola Airport daily parking rates could go up. See why and by how much
Pensacola is looking to increase daily parking rates for the Pensacola International Airport as it plans a parking lot expansion on Tippin Avenue.
The City Council will vote on a proposal on Thursday to increase the daily parking rate at the airport parking garage and surface lots by $2 a day and $1 a day in the economy lots.
While economy lot daily rates were increased in 2019, the daily parking rates for the airport surface lots and parking garages haven't been increased since 2013, according to a summary provided to City Council.
The Pensacola International Airport continues to see record-breaking growth in passenger travel numbers every year.
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The airport's parking operator, LAZ Florida Parking LLC, recommended the increase after conducting a parking survey of the airports in Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Panama City and Mobile, Alabama. According to the survey, parking rates will remain competitive with the other airports under the proposed increase.
The increase will bring rates up to $9 a day for economy lots, $11 a day for surface lots, and $13 a day for the parking garage.
With the increase, LAZ Florida Parking estimates the airport will generate an additional $1.5 million in revenue.
In 2022, parking revenue comprised 27% of the airport's operating revenue.
Airport officials have said their goal is to maximize non-airline revenue to attract more flights to Pensacola, and parking makes up 38% of non-airline revenue.
The airport plans to build a third economy lot parking area next year on Tippin Avenue. The new parking lot is an empty field already used for overflow parking on busy holiday travel weekends.
The airport says the additional parking revenue will offset cost increases caused by inflation as well as help operate the new economy lot when it is built next year.
Finding a parking spot is not the only issue at the airport. The Transportation Security Administration is in the middle of an upgrade to its security equipment at the airport. With the busy summer season coming in the middle of the upgrade project, delays getting through security are not uncommon.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said that the upgrade project will last throughout the summer.
"I'm one of those get there an hour and five minutes before people, like many of our citizens are out there," Reeves said. "So I know when they hear get there two hours early, people might blow that off. I'm telling you, as the summer increases and there's more passengers, I would tell our citizens to take that seriously."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola International Airport parking rate increases on table
