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)