Photo Credit: Pensacola International Airport
(PENSACOLA, Flor.) -- We sat down for an overall vision of the future with Pensacola International Airport Executive Director Matthew Coughlin and Airport Assistant Director for Strategy and Development Todd Payne.
Mr. Coughlin explained that, due to the recession in 2007-2008, the number of passengers was less than half of what it is now--and flat-lined for ten years.
“In 2018, we started recovering real fast. And then there was Covid, and the bottom fell out over a year. The following year, we went from zero to 100 miles an hour in one year. And we kept growing from 2023-24. We started seeing growth, 14-17 percent growth. Our vision is to match the growth and bring travel choices to the people we serve in what we call ‘the catchment area,’ (where the majority of passengers come from), from the west side of Mobile all the way over to Ft. Walton," he said.
Coughlin added, "We are the largest airport between New Orleans and Jacksonville, and our goal is to maintain that. We have seven airlines, 28 destinations non-stop, and once the upcoming expansion is complete, we will see more destinations being added as well as more flights during a day or a week to those destinations, which is called frequency."
On the details of the expansion itself, Coughlin explained, "The expansion includes a $12 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration: a Voluntary Airport Low Emission grant. We are moving to hydronic cooling and heating. This reduces emissions. We also recently got a grant from the Department of Justice for a K-9, an explosive detection kit, and training for our handler. The Department of Defense does a lot of training here, and operations are about 20-30,000 operations a year, [including] take-offs and landings. We get grants from the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Transportation, and the Federal Aviation Administration."
He also explained how the expansion will involve the Department of Transportation, and what that means for nearby roadways.
"The Department of Transportation gave us a grant to do a study to master plan the whole roadway system around here. We also get a lot of in-state grants from the Florida Department of Transportation."
This expansion is set to begin sooner than one might think.
"The expansion starts in the next two weeks," Coughlin said, "The new concourse is going to be five gates; we now have ten. The program is about $165 million. We’re going to double the size of the security checkpoint, and we’ll have an elevated pedestrian walkway to the new concourse, so it will be about a 50 percent capacity increase. The completion date is [the] summer of 2028. We did 3.1 million passengers last year, which is like taking the entire population of the City of Pensacola and putting them through these doors every seven days."
"The airport is owned by the City of Pensacola. Everything we build has to be inspected and permitted by the city. ST Engineering, a maintenance and repair overhaul facility with a training program tied to it, will add 1,825 high-paying jobs."
But that's not all that's changing.
"Pensacola State College is building an AMP school, and they will be an economic game-changer for our area."
"A little less than 50 percent of our business is leisure, a little less is corporate, and then about ten percent is military. Airlines serving Pensacola International Airport are American, Delta, Southwest, United, Contour, Breeze, and Frontier. We are 1,400 acres; almost ten percent of the City of Pensacola's land mass. We have a great team here. We have to be smart. We have to be good neighbors."
Coughlin is optimistic about the growth and new additions involved in the expansion project.
"We’re always going to grow, because there is enough sand in the sandbox … the entire Gulf Coast.”
Todd Payne says, “I really enjoy the airport environment. My specialty is acquiring and competing to get air service. We have a very attractive mix of traffic …leisure traffic, with Conde Nast ranking the beach number one in the country and Navarre number two, the potential for growth here is awesome.”
Matthew Coughlin serves as the Executive Airport Director at Pensacola International Airport since 2020, bringing with him a distinguished 29-year career in the United States Navy as an aviator and commanding officer. He previously served as the Base Commanding Officer at Naval Air Station Whiting Field from 2011-2014.
He says, “We have a great team of people here, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Todd Payne brings 38 years of travel industry experience and 18 years in airport leadership focused on air service development, marketing, communications, guest experience, and stakeholder relations. Learn more at FlyPensacola.com.
To add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at tracey.g@lead4earth.org.
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