ECP NAMED ONE OF THE NATION’S BEST RESORT AIR­PORTS FOR SEC­OND STRAIGHT YEAR

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port fin­ish­es sec­ond in the USA TODAY 10Best Read­ers’ Choice Awards

PANA­MA CITY, Fla. (Octo­ber 14, 2026) — North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP) has climbed to sec­ond place among the nation’s Best Resort Air­ports in the 2026 USA TODAY 10Best Read­ers’ Choice Awards, improv­ing on its fourth-place fin­ish last year.

It is the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year ECP has land­ed among the country’s ten best resort air­ports, mov­ing up the ranks fol­low­ing a fourth-place fin­ish in 2025. Air­ports across the coun­try com­pete in the cat­e­go­ry, from long-estab­lished resort gate­ways to major met­ro­pol­i­tan hubs. ECP, which opened in 2010, is among the youngest on the list.

The USA TODAY 10Best Read­ers’ Choice Awards rec­og­nize the best of the best across trav­el and lifestyle cat­e­gories. Nom­i­nees are select­ed by a pan­el of experts and reviewed by USA TODAY 10Best edi­tors, and win­ners are decid­ed entire­ly by pub­lic vote.

“We mea­sure our­selves by a sim­ple ques­tion: Is the trip bet­ter this year than it was last year?” said Will Cramer, Chair of the North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port Board of Direc­tors. ​“Recog­ni­tion like this tells us the answer is yes, and it’s also the rea­son we keep going — more gates, short­er lines at secu­ri­ty, a book to read while you wait, live music on a Sat­ur­day morn­ing. Thank you to every­one who voted.”

Vot­ers rec­og­nized what reg­u­lar ECP pas­sen­gers expe­ri­ence on every trip. The Air­port sits less than 30 min­utes from white sand beach­es and warm Gulf waters, with easy access to Pana­ma City, Pana­ma City Beach, South Wal­ton, Des­tin, Sea­side and Fort Wal­ton Beach. Dai­ly and sea­son­al non­stop ser­vice from Amer­i­can Air­lines, Delta Air Lines, South­west Air­lines and Unit­ed Air­lines means a vaca­tion starts the moment pas­sen­gers step off the aircraft.

The recog­ni­tion arrives dur­ing the busiest and most ambi­tious stretch in the Airport’s his­to­ry. ECP wel­comed a record 1,937,224 pas­sen­gers in 2025, a 3.1 per­cent increase over the pri­or year. In Jan­u­ary, the Air­port broke ground on an 80,000-square-foot North Ter­mi­nal Expan­sion adding three gates, four bag­gage claim carousels, addi­tion­al con­ces­sions and seat­ing, and a relo­cat­ed and expand­ed TSA check­point. In May, ECP received an $8 mil­lion fed­er­al Air­port Ter­mi­nal Pro­gram grant sup­port­ing that work.

Along­side the con­struc­tion, the Air­port has invest­ed in the details that set the tone for a beach vaca­tion: the Fly­Brary, a free take-a-book, leave-a-book library inside the Ter­mi­nal cre­at­ed with the North­west Region­al Library Sys­tem; the Wheels Up Sum­mer Music Series, bring­ing live local music to depart­ing trav­el­ers; and spon­sor­ship of the 30A Song­writ­ers Festival.

“Recog­ni­tion like this is earned in a thou­sand small moments a day that nobody writes a press release about,” said Park­er W. McClel­lan, Jr., A.A.E., Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port. ​“A clean gate area, a short secu­ri­ty line, some­one who knows the way to the rental cars. I’m proud of every per­son who wears an ECP badge, and I’m grate­ful to the trav­el­ers who noticed.”

Work on the North Ter­mi­nal Expan­sion con­tin­ues, with the added gates and expand­ed check­point designed to keep pace with the Region’s growth.

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About North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Airport

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP) 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 pro­vides dai­ly and sea­son­al non­stop flights to Atlanta (ATL), Austin (AUS), Bal­ti­more (BWI), Boston (BOS), Char­lotte (CLT), Chica­go (MDW/ORD), Colum­bus (CMH), Dal­las (DAL/DFW), Den­ver (DEN), Hous­ton (HOU/IAH), Kansas City (MCI), Nashville (BNA), New York City (LGA), St. Louis (STL), Wash­ing­ton DC (DCA), and one-stop ser­vice to world­wide des­ti­na­tions. ECP pro­vides North­west Flori­da commu­ni­ties with first-class facil­i­ties and was strate­gi­cal­ly devel­oped for major eco­nom­ic develop­ment oppor­tu­nities. Named a ​“Best Resort Air­port” two years in a row by USA TODAY, ECP is the gate­way for vis­i­tors seek­ing North­west Florida’s famous beaches.