North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port Breaks Ground on New 80,000-square-foot North Ter­mi­nal Expansion

FOR MORE INFOR­MA­TION 

Katie Spill­man, PR Counsel 

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Airport 

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

Three-Phase Project to Add Gates, Enhanced Ameni­ties, and Expand­ed Capac­i­ty 

PANA­MA CITY, Fla. (Jan­u­ary 9, 2026) — North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP) today broke ground on its new North Ter­mi­nal, an 80,000-square-foot expan­sion that marks the start of a three-phase con­struc­tion project designed to meet the Airport’s excep­tion­al growth and ele­vate the pas­sen­ger experience. 

The new expand­ed Ter­mi­nal will add three gates, six air­line bag­gage offices, and four addi­tion­al bag­gage claim carousels to ECP’s infra­struc­ture. The facil­i­ty will fea­ture addi­tion­al con­ces­sions, new restrooms, and expand­ed pas­sen­ger seat­ing, with esca­la­tors, ele­va­tors, and stairs con­nect­ing two lev­els. The project also includes plans to relo­cate and expand the TSA check­point to pro­vide expe­dit­ed secu­ri­ty screening. 

“Our pri­or­i­ty at ECP has always been deliv­er­ing an excep­tion­al trav­el expe­ri­ence to every pas­sen­ger,” said Mark Shel­don, Board Chair for North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port. ​“This expan­sion is essen­tial to main­tain­ing that com­mit­ment as we con­tin­ue to grow. It will pro­vide the capac­i­ty and ameni­ties our pas­sen­gers deserve while posi­tion­ing us to wel­come new air­lines and destinations.” 

The Expan­sion rep­re­sents ECP’s response to unprece­dent­ed demand. Since the Air­port’s inau­gu­ra­tion 15 years ago, pas­sen­ger traf­fic has grown from more than 300,000 annu­al pas­sen­gers in 2010 to near­ly 2 mil­lion pas­sen­gers in recent years — a 501% increase. As ECP approach­es two mil­lion annu­al pas­sen­gers, the addi­tion­al capac­i­ty is essen­tial to main­tain oper­a­tional effi­cien­cy and accom­mo­date con­tin­ued growth. 

Phase one of the project will estab­lish the build­ing infra­struc­ture and enve­lope, set­ting the phys­i­cal foot­print for the expan­sion. Sub­se­quent phas­es will com­plete the inte­ri­or build­out and bring all pas­sen­ger-fac­ing ameni­ties and ser­vices online. The project is fund­ed through a col­lab­o­ra­tive part­ner­ship between state and fed­er­al agen­cies, region­al part­ners, air­line part­ners, and the Air­port itself. 

“This project rep­re­sents ECP’s remark­able tra­jec­to­ry over the past 15 years,” said Mark Shel­don, Chair of the Air­port Board of Direc­tors. ​“What began as a facil­i­ty serv­ing just over 300,000 pas­sen­gers annu­al­ly has grown into a region­al eco­nom­ic engine serv­ing near­ly two mil­lion trav­el­ers. Today’s ground­break­ing ensures we can con­tin­ue meet­ing demand while enhanc­ing our role as a vital eco­nom­ic gen­er­a­tor for North­west Florida.” 

The new Expan­sion will enable ECP to enhance flight options, attract addi­tion­al air­lines, and pro­vide improved pas­sen­ger ser­vices. With three addi­tion­al gates and expand­ed infra­struc­ture, the Air­port will have the flex­i­bil­i­ty to accom­mo­date increased flight fre­quen­cies, new routes, and grow­ing pas­sen­ger volumes. 

Beyond serv­ing trav­el­ers, the project under­scores ECP’s sig­nif­i­cant eco­nom­ic impact on the Region. As a key dri­ver of eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment and diver­si­fi­ca­tion, the Air­port’s expan­sion will cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for new busi­ness part­ner­ships, increased tourism, and con­tin­ued region­al growth. 

The Expan­sion will posi­tion ECP to effi­cient­ly serve pas­sen­gers well into the future while main­tain­ing the stream­lined, pas­sen­ger-focused expe­ri­ence for which the Air­port is known. 

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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), Char­lotte (CLT), Chica­go (MDW/ORD), Dal­las (DAL/DFW), Den­ver (DEN), Hous­ton (HOU/IAH), Indi­anapo­lis (IND), Kansas City (MCI), Nashville (BNA), New York City (LGA), Philadel­phia (PHL), St. Louis (STL) and Wash­ing­ton DC (DCA) with con­nec­tions to cities world­wide. ECP pro­vides North­west Flori­da com­mu­ni­ties 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.