Grand Opening
Free Tickets for Grand Opening May 22
Posted: 07 May 2010 12:50 AM PDT
As reported by The News Herald:
Free tickets are available for the May 22 community grand opening celebration of the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.
Event coordinator Tammala Spencer said the day-long event will be free and open to the public, but tickets will be required. They will be available at several locations throughout Bay County, as well as one location in Walton County.
“We want to have as firm a count as we can of how many people will be coming,” Spencer said Thursday.
Spencer said the celebration, to be held at the new airport near West Bay just north of County 388, will include local and regional bands, including two local high school bands, food and drink vendors and tours of the new airport terminal building.
A grand opening ribbon-cutting will be held sometime between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. that Saturday, Spencer said. The first plane will land on the new 10,000-runway, although Spencer would not say whether it would be Southwest Airlines or Delta Air Lines, the carriers that will operate from the new airport. Water cannons will be deployed as part of the celebration, she said.
The first day of routine passenger operations for the new $318 million airport is set for May 23, with the first flight — a Southwest flight to Orlando — scheduled to depart at 7:25 a.m., according to Southwest’s website.
“We hope everyone comes and helps us celebrate,” she said.
A free parking pass for May 22 can be downloaded from the Web site www.northwestfloridabeaches.com.