FAA Approves Plan To Move Across The Bay
How do you move an airport? Well, you start by getting
permission from the FAA. Actually, there's a little more to it than
that, but FAA approval is a big early step, and the Panama City -
Bay County Airport Relocation Project got it on September 15th.
Bay County sports a 6300 ft runway; one of the shortest in use
by commercial aircraft in Florida. And its as long as going to get
on its current location because expansion would significantly
encroach on established neighborhoods and surrounding wetlands.
Previous airport expansion has reduced the area around the
runway such that the Runway Safety Area (RSA) no longer meets
minimum FAA standards.
All of this prompted the search for another locale, and the
Project found help in the St. Joe Company. The St. Joe Company is a
publicly held real estate operating company based in Jacksonville,
FL. They've agreed to donate 4000 acres in northwestern Bay County
to Panama City -- contingent on the city garnering the proper
permits and funding necessary for the move.
FAA approval brings them one step closer.
According to the Project's website, the proposed relocated
airport would consist of airport and terminal facilities, a primary
air carrier runway of 8,400 feet and a general aviation crosswind
runway of 5,000 feet.
This would include ancillary facilities including parallel
and connecting taxiways, terminal area facilities, general aviation
facilities, air traffic control and emergency service facilities,
and lighting and navigation facilities.
The FAA along with the
Army Corps of Engineers conducted an Environmental Impact Study and
published a final report in May 2006. A public comment period has
concluded with the majority of them favorable.
Local opponents of the move argued that Bay County doesn't have
enough traffic to merit a new runway, but airport authorities
report an average of 241 operations per day and 382,551
passengers in 2005.
Others suggested lengthening the current runway instead of
moving, but as moving to a new location has no more environmental
impact than lengthening the current runway, with the added benefit
of increasing the RSA to meet FAA standards, the city believes
moving is the best option.
As of now, there are still some regulatory hurdles to jump
before actual construction at the new location can begin. But, if
all goes as planned, Panama City should commission its new airport
in 2009.