Alas, Google Killed SideWiki

Sidewiki is no more and this blog is just an archive of a few thoughts about the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

Wish List

UPDATE:  ECP now has free wifi.  well done!

Free airport wifi, like these other Florida airports:

Florida

Daytona Beach Airport - signal availability reported in Ticketing Area - Daytona Beach
Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport - all terminals - Ft. Lauderdale
Southwest Florida International Airport - Ft.Myers
Okaloosa Regional Airport - Fort Walton Beach
Gainesville Regional Airport - Gainesville
Jacksonville Airport - Jacksonville
Key West International - Key West
LaBelle Municipal Airport - LaBelle
Melbourne International Airport - Melbourne
Orlando International Airport - all public areas and the "Cell Phone" parking lot - Orlando
Palm Beach International - Palm Beach
Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport - Pensacola
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport - Sarasota
Tallahassee Airport - Tallahassee
Tampa International - main building and both satellite terminals - Tampa
Palm Beach International Airport - West Palm Beach

16 out of 20 have it - where's ECP??
in reference to:

"Free airport wifi, like these other Florida airports:"
- The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

In Response to Re: Old airport to cost YOU $230 million!

From the "airport boondoggle" NH forum:
The redevelopment of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport property will cause further stress on already constrained SR 390 (St. Andrews Blvd.). Improvements to 390 have been evaluated by FDOT District 3, with the estimated cost being $230,754,000."


It would be insane to 4-lane SR 390 (so they will probably do it!). For once, JOE's influence might save some money, since 390 does nothing for JOE. It is a reliever road for US 231-and-west-to-PCB, a route whose time is past. The thrust of development is now the SR 388 arc from US 231 to SR 79 and the future west-of-79 JOE-road.

As the old route withers, Leucadia will inherit the present capacity of 390 as it is freed up from traffic bound from 231 toward the south end of SR 79. From Lynn Haven, it is already a toss-up to choose 390/98 west vs. 77/388/79/98. With any congestion in the Hathaway bridge area, 77/388/79/98 is clearly faster.

in reference to:

"Re: Old airport to cost YOU $230 million!"
- The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

Letter to Editor - "Faux Green" - Fake Recycling Bins

Couldn't have said it better myself. The fake recycling bins can join the serial wetland and storm water violations that attest to the cynicism of this board and management. The airport needs to quit representing itself as an environmental improvement - that was just a ploy to co-opt some opposition, and now its an embarassment.

The airport needs to proceed on its merits - environmental benefit is NOT one of them and never has been.

in reference to:

"Letter to Editor - "Faux Green" - Fake Recycling Bins posted at 8/15/2010 7:53 AM CDT"
- The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

General aviation pilots say they are in limbo at old airport

The irony is that FAA, the airport and its consultants declared repeatedly that both airports could not operate simultaneously, despite many contrary examples such as Okaloosa county (two civil airports and numerous military airports).

Why did the "leadership" take the negative fear-mongering approach instead of just going out and building a better airline airport for much less money, leaving an irreplaceable community airport in place? Panama City is now the only sizeable city in Florida without a paved/instrumented community airport within 10 miles.

in reference to:

"General aviation pilots say they are in limbo at old airport"
- GA pilots say they're in limbo at old airport | say, airport, west - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

New DEP Fines for ECP

Just can't get this green project finished without serial violations...

in reference to:

"DEP levies new fines against airport board"
- DEP levies new fines | west, bay, dep - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

Congratulations ECP

Southwest has made a huge impact and is definitely the "secret sauce". I am more surprised to see Delta respond vigorously and also do well. This is impressive traffic in a weak economy, and I'll have serving of that crow. It does not excuse the waste and abuse of resources that are still occurring, but strong revenues can overcome a lot of problems.


The next big test is autumn and winter. When Delta had more service here circa 1995, it did great in the summer and very weak in winter for an overall 55 percent load factor. Delta has the option to reduce service in the winter as usual, but Southwest's deal with St Joe is for 4 nonstop destinations and 2 departures to each daily. Not sure how much flexibility in that, but right now they are on a roll and congrats are in order.

in reference to: Airport numbers soar | airport, bay, numbers - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

Amazing June Traffic

I hope everyone will click to view the passenger activity report on the nearby link. It is, frankly, amazing. Year over year, triple the seats AND triple the passengers. I'm not surprised Southwest is 80% full on a new service, but am surprised Delta held 78%, and most surprised the lousy economy can produce this much traffic. The airport should quickly try to learn the origins and destinations (particularly the regional origins) of these passengers. It will take significant effort to hold them in the winter.

On the construction side, revenues will cure a lot of problems and there probably will be enough money to settle with Finch and the DEP. The creeks, however, can't use money - they are on their own.
in reference to: Finch: Airport owes me $10 million in back pay | west, bay - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

Getting over myself

737,
You've got me on Southwest; I was shocked they took this deal (and more shocked that St Joe offered it) and I'm trying to stay out of it until they go through a winter here. Delta tried it for several years and never could get either the winter or east-west routes to work. I am sure I was right on the fundamentals, but didn't foresee a big subsidy. I have also been surprised that Delta has responded pretty well on price and larger planes. There is always a larger market at lower prices, but ECP is starting from a very modest base and it remains to be seen if all the new seats will be profitable.

Re: Finch
Phoenix (and the tiers of consultants) are in the end independent contractors. If the Owner of the project does not manage its contractors, then the contractors will manage as they see fit, and the result is what you see here. Several of the board members are friends or acquantances of mine, and I urged them years ago to hire a "gunslinger" to run a tight ship if they were going to do this.

Re: Sandy Creek
Sandy Creek is short, not instrumented, has no facilities for sophisticated airplanes, and is in the shadow of Tyndall's conventional and drone operations. It is not viable for any but rudimentary recreational pilots. The obvious plan for ECP was the "Ft Myers model" of building a 1-runway airline-centric airport (hopefully in a better location and using better practices) and keeping PFN for its unique value as a large GA airport like Page Field in Ft Myers. Instead they gave PFN away for less than the cost to replace its GA facilities. The only reason I ever saw for this was that consultant Bechtel wanted the largest possible project (and fees).

RE: Getting Over
My interest in this was originally professional curiosity, but after a while it got so curious that I received a broad education in corporate welfare, political intrigue, greed and regulatory capture. I never wanted to kill it but I thought it could be done a lot better and the only way to be heard was in the legal process. It is not personal with me, and I hope it is successful, whatever that means. It cannot fail aviation-wise because the State of Florida is on the hook and it has started with a gift of all previous aviation development in the county. As for the enviro objectives, they are just window dressing and cannot possibly be realized (develop 4000 acres of swamp/scrub pine + surroundings + re-develop 700 acres of waterfront/marina with a "net enviromental benefit"?).

in reference to: The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

My comment on FBO failure to launch

In Response to Re: Airport loses a key business:
Omen of more pullouts to come? The print version today includes a story about how the airport is losing a key industry planned for the new airport--the fixed-base operation (FBO).
Posted by asterisque


"Regency " was the new FBO, but the incumbent FBO "Sheltair" is still stumbling through a start-up with no facilities. A friend says they expect to lose money for 5 years even with a monopoly.

Meanwhile, remnants of general aviation continue operating at PFN, despite the repeated testimony that two civil airports could not safely operate in Bay County. That was before this brain trust failed to complete ECP for general aviation. Oh well, they will (eventually) have hurricane spec hangars to store their planes in crosswinds.

These board guys could never understand that GA is not just "recreation for the rich", it supports many businesses and public needs such as organ transplants, air ambulances, and transient military light aircraft. Panama City is now the largest city in Florida with no instrumented community airport.
"No evidence of _" is not the same as "Evidence of no _" -The Black Swan

My other blogs :
http://donhodges.blogspot.com (BayBlogger - My Sidewiki Posts)

http://donaldhodges.com (Don Hodges: BayBlog)

in reference to:

"Re: Airport loses a key business"
- The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

Airport to spend $5 million for stormwater fix

The airport board fulfilled my prediction they will add $5 - $10 million to the Finch contract before "settling" all construction issues in a year or two. NOBODY will ever testify under oath, but it will be another windfall for lawyers and "mediators".

Party on...

in reference to:

"Airport to spend $5 million for stormwater fix"
- Airport to spend $5 million for stormwater fix | west, airport, fix - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

New FBO at airport might fall through

June 4, 2010
Well, that didn't take long - investors have pulled the plug on the "Regency" FBO, leaving Sheltair as the sole FBO (to open "real soon now"). This has been Sheltair's plan all along and the Airport Board has supported it with financing and eminent domain condemnation of the sole compettitor, Precision.

in reference to: Freedom - Panama City, Friday, June 04, 2010 - ActivePaper Daily by Olive Software (view on Google Sidewiki)

Regency FBO

I would place a small wager that Regency won't build.

in reference to: Discussions On-Going With Fixed-Base Operator — The New ECP (view on Google Sidewiki)

Southwest Bookings "Stronger than Expected"

http://newpcairport.com/2010/05/southwest-bookings-ahead-of-expectations/

On Contract Wrangling - Its Profitable

In a private contract, SOMEBODY ultimately is accountable. In a public contract like this, EVERYBODY is served by wrangling on and on. There is still much more money to be made by lawyers, arbitrators, consultants, etc. and the board will ultimately pay everybody off because 1) they don't want all the dirty laundry in court and 2) IT'S NOT THEIR MONEY. The only risk to the board is their reputation and that is OK with all the Chamber types. They could care less about "spectators" even if we embarrass them occasionally.

We are nowhere near the bottom yet - order some more ink, Caz.

in reference to:

"Airport Authority sticks with Finch"
- The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

News Herald: Airport Grand Jury?

THAT would sell some papers.

in reference to:

"The Airport Authority last week was backed into a corner"
- Rough landing - EDITORIAL - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

It Will Be An Airport City

Archiving another big-puffery claim for the airport...

in reference to:

"“It will be an airport city,” says airport director Randy Curtis."
- Florida Trend Touts Economic Potential of New Airport — The New ECP (view on Google Sidewiki)

More Misinformation - FOX Business News

The host on the video says the present airport (which is as long as Chicago-Midway) can't handle a 737, and Dan Rowe agrees that 737's can't be fully loaded, both false. Southwest 737's can easily operate to the 4 destinations being offered from 6300 ft. The new service is a huge win but boosters are never satisfied with the truth, they seem to have to bash our existing communities.

in reference to: Fox Business News Reports on New Florida Beaches International Airport — The New ECP (view on Google Sidewiki)

Why design an Airport for 50 Years?

Question for Mr. Willett: Why would you design an airport for 50 years? Many have been in place since the beginning of aviation, about 100 years, and locally Tyndall and Eglin are passing 70 years. I have said (and written to these consultants) repeatedly that the plans should be for 100 years. Even the estimable St. Joe Company says 50 years is just the beginning.

in reference to:

"Officials differ on airport rock impact"
- Officials differ on airport rock impact | rock, airport, west - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)

St. Joe Contributes Again

St. Joe makes another contribution - an unforgettable name for east West Bay.

in reference to:

"St. Joe names commercial property at new airport"
- St. Joe names commercial property at new airport | property, airport, commercial - News - The News Herald (view on Google Sidewiki)