Joe's vice president of economic development who was brought in last fall to market West Bay. 'We are creating a new central business district for the region,' said Kevin Johnson, St. Joe and area economic officials envision practically a new city sprouting from the airport.

The new airport is in a remote area of Bay County surrounded by largely undeveloped land. West Bay is the name given to the land adjacent to the airport that St. 'This is really the future of our company,' said Rod Wilson, president of the West Bay Sector for St. Joe Co., the Jacksonville-based company that owns 71,000 acres immediately surrounding the airport and 300,000 acres within 40 miles of the site. But no one will benefit more than The St. Many economic development officials in the Panama City area are hoping the new airport will make the region more accessible and open up new opportunities. In particular, a group of executives who currently work in a Riverside Avenue office in Jacksonville are watching closely. It's a fixed date,' said Lisa Walters, a Panama City attorney who is the immediate past chairwoman of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance. in 15 years, so it's receiving a lot of attention. This is the first international airport built in the U.S. The windows may not be washed, but we'll make it,' he said. But Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill insists the new airport will open as planned next month.

PANAMA CITY - Wearing a hard hat amid the construction dust of the passenger terminal for the new Northwest Florida International Beaches Airport, it's hard to imagine that Southwest Airlines' first flight out of Panama City will take off on schedule on May 23.

Panama city airport open