Sky's the limit as Bay County's airport preps for facility and passenger growth in 2023

Nathan Cobb, The News Herald
·2 min read

PANAMA CITY BEACH − As Bay County continues to grow, so does the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP).

According to Parker McClellan, executive director of ECP, 2023 will undoubtedly be a very busy year for the airport, with multiple construction projects slated to break ground that will help the facility expand to properly meet its growing demand.

The regional airport is located north of Panama City Beach, in unincorporated Bay County.

"(Next year) is going to be a very, very busy construction time for us," McClellan said. "There's all sorts of construction and growth opportunities at this airport. ... There's a lot of things moving in a positive direction in terms of growth and development."

Multiple expansions projects and high passenger numbers are expected for the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in 2023.
Multiple expansions projects and high passenger numbers are expected for the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in 2023.

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He noted upcoming developments include an approximately $3.5 million project to pave an overflow lot and add additional parking spaces, a more than $8 million project to expand the baggage area and $3.2 million project to expand the terminal.

Southern Sky Aviation, an aircraft maintenance company out of Alabama, also has invested more than $25 million to build a second fixed-base operator, or FBO, on about 11 acres at ECP. Construction for this project already is underway. FBOs are terminals for small private and corporate airplanes.

"We want to make sure that we are building things in time (and) when they're needed," McClellan said. "What we want to do is have our growth at a similar pace to the community's growth, so that we can continue to perform at the same or better service level than what we have in the past."

ECP's total passenger numbers for 2022 will not be available until January 2023, but McClellan said he expects for them to be "significantly" higher than those of 2019. That was the airport's busiest year ever before 2021, which brought an unprecedented number of passengers fueled by pent up travel demand created in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While 2022 will not overcome 2021, McClellan noted passenger growth in 2022 over 2019 proves ECP is on tract for continued growth in 2023.

According their airport's November activity report, it serviced 713,254 passengers in the first 11 months of 2022. This is 115,566 more passengers than during the same time in 2019, and only 38,610 less passengers than during the same period in 2021.

"We feel that the airport's future is bright, and that we've been discovered," McClellan said. "I don't think the discovery is going away. I think the discovery going to continue. It won't be at the same pace that we had in 2021, but I think we're going to still continue to see strong, steady returning customers, as well as new customers coming to our community."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport to expand in 2023