NORTH­WEST FLORI­DA BEACH­ES INTER­NA­TION­AL AIR­PORT (ECP) AWARD­ED $8 Mil­lion GRANT TO SUP­PORT NORTH TER­MI­NAL EXPANSION

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Katie Spill­man, PR Counsel 

North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Airport 

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

FOR IMME­DI­ATE RELEASE
May 29, 2026

NORTH­WEST FLORI­DA BEACH­ES INTER­NA­TION­AL AIR­PORT (ECP) AWARD­ED $8 Mil­lion GRANT TO SUP­PORT NORTH TER­MI­NAL EXPANSION 

FED­ER­AL INVEST­MENT ADVANCES FAM­I­LY-FRIEND­LY ENHANCE­MENTS AT ECP

PANA­MA CITY, Fla. (May 29, 2026) – North­west Flori­da Beach­es Inter­na­tion­al Air­port (ECP) has been award­ed an $8 mil­lion grant from the U.S. Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (DOT) and the Flori­da Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion (FAA) to sup­port a por­tion of its North Ter­mi­nal Expan­sion Program.

The fund­ing was announced in May as part of the fifth and final round of Air­port Ter­mi­nal Pro­gram (ATP) awards under the Infra­struc­ture Invest­ment and Jobs Act. In total, near­ly $970 mil­lion was dis­trib­uted to 133 air­ports across 45 states to enhance the trav­el expe­ri­ence for fam­i­lies, with invest­ments focused on projects such as expand­ed restrooms, moth­ers’ rooms, and improved pas­sen­ger amenities.

ECP offi­cial­ly broke ground on the 80,000-square-foot North Ter­mi­nal expan­sion in Jan­u­ary, launch­ing a three-phase project designed to enhance the pas­sen­ger expe­ri­ence while expand­ing capac­i­ty. The expan­sion will add three gates, six air­line bag­gage offices, and four addi­tion­al bag­gage claim carousels, along with new con­ces­sions, expand­ed seat­ing, and more acces­si­ble restrooms. Plans also include relo­cat­ing and expand­ing the TSA check­point to improve screen­ing efficiency. 

The project reflects the Airport’s rapid growth, with pas­sen­ger traf­fic increas­ing from just over 300,000 annu­al trav­el­ers in its first year of oper­a­tion in 2010, to 1,937,224 pas­sen­gers in 2025. As demand con­tin­ues to rise, the addi­tion­al capac­i­ty will be essen­tial to main­tain­ing oper­a­tional effi­cien­cy and sup­port­ing future air ser­vice expansion. 

“We are grate­ful to be select­ed to receive this fund­ing, which direct­ly sup­ports our com­mit­ment to mak­ing ECP a wel­com­ing air­port where fam­i­lies can trav­el with greater ease,” said Park­er W. McClel­lan Jr., A.A.E., Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of ECP. ​“From more ameni­ties to improved flow through the Ter­mi­nal, these invest­ments will help cre­ate a more com­fort­able and con­ve­nient expe­ri­ence for par­ents, chil­dren, and all travelers.” 

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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 flights to world­wide des­ti­na­tions, includ­ing 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) and Wash­ing­ton DC (DCA). The first inter­na­tion­al air­port to be built in more than a decade, 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.