Airport Administrator Has PCB Flying High
By Clayton Wallace, Condo Owner Exclusive
When John Wheat took over last year as executive director of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, the luster of the new facility was beginning to fade. First opened in 2010, the airport was embroiled in lawsuits, had not been able to sell the grounds of the old Panama City Beach airport and faced an uncertain future with its two major carriers—Southwest and Delta.
“When I was recruited to come here, there were several issues that had us teetering on the brink,” Wheat said. “In the past year, we’ve solved about eight problems and we’ve brought certainty to the airport.”
Since Wheat has come to town, the veteran of more than 40 years of aviation administration experience has been able to settle outstanding lawsuits, sell the old airport and lock in Southwest and Delta for at least four more years. “The addition of John Wheat has been invaluable,” said Dawn Moliterno, South Walton Tourist Development Council executive director.
Moliterno, who sits on the board of directors for the airport, said Wheat has “been a driving force” behind getting the airport into the enviable position in which it finds itself today. According to Moliterno and Wheat, there are four major airports from Tallahassee to Pensacola. Before the new airport opened, Wheat said the old facility accounted for approximately 9 percent of the total passengers using the four airports. “We now account for 25 percent of total visitations,” Wheat said.
Moliterno said the increase has been dramatic. “In May of 2010, we had 42,273 visitations,” she said. “In May this year, we had 87,398 visitations. We’ve doubled the number of people that come in through the airport. Only Pensacola has more visitations than we do now.”
Dan Rowe is the president and CEO of the Panama City Beach CVB. He said he can’t stress too much what the impact Wheat and the new airport has had on tourism in his area. “The airport has been a wonderful positive for Panama City Beach and Northwest Florida as a whole,” he said. As a condition of Southwest’s coming to the new airport, they asked for assurances they would make a certain amount of money per year, he said. The St. Joe Company stepped in and signed an agreement to make up the difference for any amount that fell short of Southwest’s goal. “The recent announcement that the agreement between Southwest and St. Joe’s has been suspended is great,” he said. “It means that everyone’s making money.”
Rowe and Moliterno said the member businesses in their respective organizations have seen tourism records break since the airport opened. “We’ve had strong growth since April last year,” Rowe said. “It’s the longest stretch of increased growth we’ve ever seen, and much of that is due to the airport. It has opened up areas where we were traditionally not strong. For example, St. Louis is a 10- to-12-hour drive from here, but it’s only a 1.5-hour flight.”
Moliterno agreed. “We’ve had 14 straight months with double-digit increases,” she said. “The lift that Southwest and Delta has brought us has been invaluable.”
Looking forward, Wheat believes more competition is the key to making the services the airport provides even better. “This airport can attract—over time—more carriers,” Wheat said. “We’re currently talking to all the major carriers. To the consumer, competition is always the best thing.”
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