Northwest Florida benefits from Southwest Airlines expansion

For those of us in the commercial real estate business the announcement that Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelley made last week is very exciting! The low-cost airline will begin servicing Northwest Florida-Panama City International Airport beginning in May 2010.  The commencement of Southwest Airlines servicing Northwest Florida will be in conjunction with the airport relocating from its existing location to the West Bay site that is currently under construction. The announcement came with much fan-fare in the region and efforts to lure Southwest to the area have been in the works for nearly a decade. Included in the announcement was that Southwest will fly from Panama City to four cities, with up to two flights to each city per day. The specific cities were not disclosed and will be revealed in December when tickets go on sale. It is rumored the connecting cities will include Nashville, Dallas and Baltimore. Southwest’s arrival to the area is expected to bring a major economic boom in increased tourism, private and government industries. Kelley called the area an “under-served, overpriced [current air fares] tourist gem”. In addition to being world renowned as “the world’s most beautiful beaches,” Panama City-Bay County is home to two military installations with multiple other installations across Northwest Florida.  All this bodes well for the Northwest Florida economy and commercial real estate investors.

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