Panama City Airport Update

Construction Management Firm Selected

The FAA recently committed at least $72 million dollars for the relocation of the Panama City - Bay County International Airport to its planned West Bay location. The funds will be dispersed over four years, which is a shorter time period than previously expected. According to the Airport Authority, the quicker disbursement schedule will result in lower financing costs and will ultimately result in a lower total cost to relocate the airport.

Also the FAA has approved use of the airport's entitlement funding of about $7.2 million per year for the project. These funds, combined with the recent commitment of $67 million from the Florida Dept. of Transportation and the expected $61 million that the Airport Authority says it will raise from the sale of the land where the current airport sits, will cover the relocation costs, according to the board. The board says that no local tax dollars will be used for this project.

Management Firm Selected - Hiring of Construction Firm delayed

The Airport Authority has also selected the construction firm Kellogg Brown and Root Infrastructure Inc. (KBR) to manage the construction of the new airport. KBR will oversee budgeting, scheduling and other administrative tasks. The company will not be responsible for the actual hiring of construction firms. The airport board will make that selection.

Recently, the board announced that the bidding process, and final selection of a construction firm from six potential companies, has been delayed. The delay comes after the companies had numerous questions about the project and required answers to the questions before submitting their bids. For each question received from a company, the board is required to distribute a copy of the question with an answer to all companies bidding for the project. The bids should be submitted by the end of this month. It is unclear whether or not the bidding process will be delayed again.

Got a Permit for that?

But no construction will take place without the final environmental permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These are expected to arrive sometime in the next few weeks. Officials say the new airport is still planned to open at the end of 2009.