Delta Air Lines has announced it will add two additional flights per day with larger aircraft when the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport opens in late May.
Randy Curtis, airport executive director, said the new jets will be McDonnell Douglas MD-88 models, which have a seating capacity if 142.
Delta currently uses its connector service, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, on flights from Panama City to Atlanta and Memphis, and ASA flies regional Bombardier Canadair jets in the 50- and 70-seat range. The new airport, with its 10,000-foot runway, is expected to begin operations May 23.
The announcement by Delta is seen by airport officials as a direct response to the decision by low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines to begin operations from the new airport. Lower fares by Delta are also expected, Curtis said.
Southwest, which uses only Boeing 737 aircraft with a normal seating capacity of 138, has committed to operating eight daily non-stop flights from Panama City to Orlando, Nashville, Tenn., Baltimore and Houston when the new airport opens.
Delta, via ASA, will continue to operate its regular schedule of flights to Atlanta and Memphis using its regional Canadair jets. The May 23 opening date for the airport comes just a week before Memorial Day, the traditional start of the summer tourism season.
In other business during Tuesday’s Airport Authority board meeting, Jeff Dealy of KBR, program manager for the airport relocation project, said the $318 million facility near West Bay was now 89 percent complete overall, with the terminal at the 85 percent completion mark.
He said the $4 million state-of-the-art 16,000-square-foot baggage handling system was on track for the Transportation Security Administration to begin testing in early April. In addition, several of the outlying structures of the $63 million seven-building terminal complex should be completed by the end of March, Dealy said.
“The biggest issue right now is the ponds and finalizing the storm drainage system,” Dealy said. The system, when finally operational, is expected to eliminate much of the current concerns by the Department of Environmental Protection over un-permitted stormwater discharges from the airport site.
Recent stormwater currently held in pond C, the main filtration facility of the yet-to-be-completed system, is scheduled to begin a draw-down today so work on the system can continue. Dealy said he hoped to have the drainage system finalized by the end of March.
Watershed experts with the St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association’s Bay Watch Program said they were aware of this week’s discharge plans and would be monitoring the silt levels of nearby Crooked Creek and Burnt Mill Creek for higher-than-permitted turbidity readings.
I know so many people are ready for this airport to be up and running so I thank the New Herald for keeping us updated as we will keep you informed as well!
[...] Delta Adding Flights & Larger Aircrafts to the New Airport … [...]
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