It was made quite clear by Bob Montgomery, Vice President of Properties for Southwest Airlines, that if it weren’t for St. Joe, Southwest Airlines wouldn’t be coming to Panama City.  The discussions between St. Joe and Southwest Airlines began over a decade ago.  One of the things that was explained to me a short while ago was that Southwest Airlines can go where ever they want to go; they just pick an airport, and the airport accommodates.  I was told that Southwest coming to Panama City made absolutely no sense from a business perspective and the prospect encompassed more risk than a company like Southwest would be willing to take.  But, what if the risk was mitigated by a third party?  That was their ticket into our market.

Read on for all the facts.

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Southwest Airlines Co. announced Wednesday it will begin service to Panama City new International Airport next May.

Panama City will be the discount carrier's seventh location in Florida. This is in addition to New York, Boston, Milwaukee and Minneapolis added earlier this year. This expansion continues Southwest eliminates other flights and shrinks capacity overall due to the slump in air travel.

CEO Gary Kelly made reference to the said the expansion to northwest Florida was done in partnership with a land developer, The St. Joe Co. Kelly also said the airline would operate eight daily flights with destinations to be disclosed in December.

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