Inaugural Festivities Culminate With Airport Celebration and News Conference

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla., May 24, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –Southwest Airlines today celebrated the airline’s new service at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) with a beach-themed celebration that included plenty of beach balls and local music. Hundreds of Customers and Employees were on hand as Southwest Airlines’ Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO Gary Kelly joined ECP Airport Authority Vice Chairman Bill Cramer and St. Joe CEO Britt Greene in a morning news conference. To see Southwest Airlines’ full ECP schedule or to book a flight to or from ECP, visit southwest.com.

The Dallas-based airline now offers a better way to the beach with a total of eight daily, nonstop, Boeing 737 departures:

Panama City Beach (ECP) to/from Nashville (BNA) – two daily flights

Panama City Beach (ECP) to/from Houston Hobby (HOU) – two daily flights

Panama City Beach (ECP) to/from Baltimore/Washington (BWI) – two daily flights

Panama City Beach (ECP) to/from Orlando (MCO) – two daily flights

In addition to the eight daily nonstop flights, Southwest Airlines will offer direct (with a stop but no change of planes) or connecting service to more than 58 destinations from Panama City Beach, including Dallas and Chicago. Southwest Airlines will operate from Gate 3 at the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport with approximately 30 Employees who will call the region home.

“Southwest Airlines promises to bring low fares, great Customer Service, and a strong community commitment to the great folks of Northwest Florida,” Kelly said. “Serving this region has been on our wish list for quite some time, and it’s a proud day for Southwest Airlines to finally begin flying to the beautiful Emerald Coast.”

This morning’s press conference capped a weekend full of festivities celebrating the inaugural flights (Southwest officially launched service on Sunday, May 23). The carrier kicked off the weekend by landing the first commercial aircraft at the first U.S. airport to be built in more than a decade. A Southwest Boeing 737 jet was met by a water cannon salute and local Southwest fans and Employees. On Saturday evening, Southwest Airlines hosted the “Tootsies Tweetup,” giving local Customers a chance to mix and mingle with the Social Media-savvy airline and a chance to win roundtrip tickets, at Tootsies, a local establishment. The first Southwest Customers on Sunday morning were serenaded by local band, Todd Sparks and The Shrimpboat Cowboys, and were treated to coffee, a southern breakfast, and beach balls in the Southwest Airlines gate area. Southwest Employees also celebrated the official first day of service by donating volunteer hours with the Florida Trail Association, where they cleared hiking trails and built bridges in Florida Trail’s East Pine Log Trail in Pine Log State Forest. This section of the Florida Trail is about four miles northwest of the northern boundary of the new airport.

To see more details about the carrier’s weekend festivities, visit Southwest’s blog at: www.blogsouthwest.com.

Southwest Airlines now serves seven airports in Florida, and the airline is the largest intra-state carrier, hosting 46 percent of all intra-Florida airline traffic. Southwest began service to Florida in 1996, opening two cities on the same day: Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood and Tampa Bay. Orlando opened on April 7 of the same year. Jacksonville followed in 1997, West Palm Beach in 2001, and Ft. Myers/Naples in 2005. Southwest Airlines honored the State of Florida recently with the unveiling of Florida One, a Boeing 737 emblazoned with an artist’s rendering of the state flag. Click on the following link to see a video of the Florida One aircraft: www.youtube.com.

Southwest Airlines is the nation’s largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, currently serving 69 cities in 35 states. Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,300 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

www.southwest.com

SOURCE Southwest Airlines

——————————————————————————–
If you are unable to click on the link above, please copy and paste the URL below into a web browser

http://www.southwest.com/investor_relations/fs_news_releases.html

Southwest Airlines, Investor Relations Department, 2702 Love Field Drive, Dallas, TX 75235

Slowly but surely, life in 2010 seems to be shaping up pretty well and that can only mean great things for Panama City Beach residents & tourists. It’s time to explore life, discover yourself, relax on the white sandy beaches and soak it up! Spring 2010 will be here sooner than you know it and the town will be buzzing back to life and I can’t wait!

A beautiful way to end the day!

Artist rendering of New Panama City Beach Public Library!

I remember when I got my very first library card at the Panama City Beach Public Library, I was maybe 3-4 years old and I felt like I had accomplished something by having that card! I loved to read as a kid and that has followed on into my adult life as well! So now knowing that the brand new Panama City Beach Library is almost at completion, it reminds me of that feeling I had as a child! The new facility is at the corner of Hutchison Boulevard and Lyndell Lane near the Senior Center and Lyndell Community Center. It will replace the current 4,500-square-foot building near U.S. 98 and State 79 that has outgrown its space!

How excited are you to have this new library? Tell us how you feel!

The Betsy Ann Riverboat

This sounds like a very fun event going on tomorrow night and I’ve already got the bustier so now I just got to show up!