FOR MORE INFORMATION

Katie Spill­man, PR Counsel 

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Airport 

(727) 236‑0284 or katies@​themooreagency.​com

FOR IMME­DI­ATE RELEASE

April 24, 2024

RIB­BON-CUT­TING CER­E­MO­NY CEL­E­BRATES GRAND OPEN­ING OF SOUTH­ERN SKY AVI­A­TION AT ECP

PANA­MA CITY AIR­PORT WEL­COMES NEW FBO

PANA­MA CITY, Fla. (April 24, 2024) – South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion held a rib­bon-cut­ting cer­e­mo­ny to cel­e­brate the grand open­ing of a new fixed base oper­a­tor (FBO) at North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP). More than 50 area lead­ers, ECP board mem­bers, part­ners, stake­hold­ers, and staff attend­ed the event, com­plete with for­mal pro­gram remarks deliv­ered by ECP Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Park­er W. McClel­lan, Jr., A.A.E., Chair of the Air­port Author­i­ty at ECP Hol­ly Melz­er, and Pres­i­dent of South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion Don­ald Howell.

South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion invest­ed over $25 mil­lion to devel­op the new FBO, encom­pass­ing over 11 acres of new ramp with an 11,000 square foot FBO Ter­mi­nal and over 64,000 square feet of hangar space. 

“It’s always a great day when we get to wel­come a new busi­ness to our Region, espe­cial­ly to our ECP fam­i­ly,” said Hol­ly Melz­er, Chair of the Air­port Author­i­ty at ECP. ​“Not only does the open­ing of a new FBO enhance our Airport’s appeal as a pre­mier des­ti­na­tion for trav­el­ers, but it also con­tin­ues to sig­nal a promis­ing era of eco­nom­ic growth and oppor­tu­ni­ty. With each new busi­ness relo­cat­ing or open­ing a new facil­i­ty at ECP, we are not just expand­ing our avi­a­tion infra­struc­ture, we are cre­at­ing jobs, fos­ter­ing busi­ness part­ner­ships, and pro­pelling our Region towards a brighter future.”

Based on the growth of ECP and the Region, the full-ser­vice, first-class facil­i­ty will serve the rise in pri­vate avi­a­tion traf­fic com­ing into the area and the grow­ing tourism demand. South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion pro­vides char­ters and main­te­nance ser­vices, fuel for arriv­ing and depart­ing air­craft, and the devel­op­ment of the new facil­i­ty cre­at­ed over 20 jobs. 

“We appre­ci­ate the oppor­tu­ni­ty to part­ner with Pana­ma City-Bay Coun­ty Air­port and Indus­tri­al Dis­trict to pro­vide a state-of-the-art FBO for the avi­a­tion com­mu­ni­ty here at ECP,” said Don­ald How­ell, Pres­i­dent of South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion. ​“An FBO is often the gate­way for eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment in a com­mu­ni­ty, and we look for­ward to work­ing with the Bay EDA team and the Air­port Author­i­ty to con­tin­ue the momen­tum and fur­ther growth of the indus­try’s suc­cess in this Region.”

How­ell says it is a ​‘dream come true’ to open a new FBO in beau­ti­ful Pana­ma City, FL. As a child, How­ell start­ed vis­it­ing Pana­ma City Beach when he was 8‑years old, so to own and lead a busi­ness in a region primed for major eco­nom­ic growth is some­thing he says is extreme­ly exciting.

“We are delight­ed for the impact that the open­ing of a new FBO will have on our Region,” said Park­er W. McClel­lan Jr., A.A.E., ECP Exec­u­tive Direc­tor. ​“The addi­tion of South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion not only pro­vides more options to gen­er­al avi­a­tion users, but it also fur­ther under­scores the com­mit­ment this Air­port and part­ners like the Bay EDA have to fur­ther eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment in our Region.”

Fea­tures, ser­vices, and ameni­ties of the new South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion facil­i­ty at ECP include: 

• 11,000 square foot terminal

• 64,000 square feet of hangar space

• Hagar doors up to 28 feet

• Elec­tric vehi­cle charg­ing stations

• Supe­ri­or line and cus­tomer service

• Cater­ing

• Cof­fee & ice

• Com­pli­men­ta­ry refreshments

• Lug­gage cart

• Exec­u­tive con­fer­ence room with audio/​visual/​digital capabilities

• Offices avail­able to customers

• Show­ers

• State-of-the-art snooze room

• Pilot lounge

• Pilot offices

• Weath­er & flight planning

• Wi-Fi

• Crew cars

• Ground pow­er units

• Lava­to­ry and water carts

• On-site GoRental vehicles

South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion is locat­ed at 5215 Jon­ny Reaver Rd, Pana­ma City, FL 32409. 

For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it south​ern​skyavi​a​tion​.com.

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About North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Airport 

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP) offers some of the region’s low­est aver­age air­fares and is locat­ed less than 30 min­utes from Pana­ma City Beach, Pana­ma City, and the beach­es of South Wal­ton. Today, with ser­vice from Amer­i­can Air­lines, Delta Air Lines, South­west Air­lines, and Unit­ed Air­lines, ECP’s air­line part­ners pro­vide dai­ly flights to world­wide des­ti­na­tions, includ­ing year-round and sea­son­al non­stop flights between ECP and Atlanta (ATL), Austin (AUS) Bal­ti­more (BWI), Char­lotte (CLT), Chica­go (MDW/ORD), Dal­las (DAL/DFW), Den­ver (DEN), Hous­ton (HOU/IAH), Indi­anapo­lis (IND), Kansas City (MCI), Nashville (BNA), St. Louis (STL), Wash­ing­ton DC (DCA), and more. ECP pro­vides North­west Flori­da with first-class facil­i­ties and was strate­gi­cal­ly devel­oped for major eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties. ECP is the gate­way to vis­i­tors seek­ing North­west Florida’s famous beaches. 

About South­ern Sky Aviation

South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion, LLC is a full-ser­vice pri­vate avi­a­tion com­pa­ny offer­ing Air­craft Char­ter, FBO, Man­age­ment, Main­te­nance, and Sales. South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion is Head­quar­tered at a pri­vate ter­mi­nal at the Birm­ing­ham-Shut­tlesworth Inter­na­tion­al Air­port. For more infor­ma­tion on South­ern Sky Avi­a­tion, please con­tact (205) 703‑9737 or vis­it www​.south​ern​skyavi​a​tion​.com.