Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (KECP) is a modern, purpose-built commercial and general-aviation field serving the Florida Panhandle, sited north of Panama City Beach near West Bay. Opened in 2010 as the first airport of its kind built in the United States since the September 11 attacks, it offers a single long, ILS-equipped runway and full tower service, making it a straightforward but busy destination for both airline traffic and visiting light aircraft.
Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport is a public airport owned by the Panama City-Bay County Airport & Industrial District, located near Panama City Beach in Bay County, Florida. It replaced the older Panama City-Bay County International Airport (Fannin Field) and opened for commercial service in May 2010, making it the first newly designed and built international airport in the United States since the September 11 attacks. For a visiting sim pilot it offers a single very long runway, an ILS approach, and full tower and ground control, giving it the feel of a compact but capable regional airline gateway set among the pine flatwoods and bays of the Panhandle.
The airport lies about 18 miles northwest of Panama City, Florida, north of Panama City Beach and near West Bay. It is served by both a control tower and ground control, indicating controlled airspace around the field for arriving and departing traffic. Pilots should expect to coordinate with Panama City Ground and Panama City Tower when operating in the vicinity.
The airport has a single physical runway, 16/34, oriented roughly north-south, with a hard surface of 10,000 feet in length and equipped with lighting on both ends. Runway 16 is additionally equipped with an ILS approach, giving it a precision instrument capability not available on the reciprocal Runway 34.
Pilots can expect to use ATIS on 119.975 MHz for arrival and departure information. Panama City Ground operates on 121.65 MHz, while Panama City Tower and the common traffic advisory frequency both operate on 118.95 MHz. Runway 16 supports an ILS approach, giving instrument-rated pilots a precision option in addition to any area navigation approaches.
For general aviation aircraft, both Runway 16 and Runway 34 use a left-hand traffic pattern. Runway 16's approach is supported by a four-light PAPI system with a 2.83-degree glideslope, a MALSR approach lighting system, centerline lighting and touchdown zone lighting, while Runway 34 has its own four-light PAPI at the same glideslope angle along with centerline lighting.
The airport sits north of Panama City Beach and close to West Bay, a useful landmark for pilots orienting themselves on approach from the coast. The long, lit 16/34 runway is a prominent feature from the air amid the surrounding wooded terrain of Bay County.
The airport was built to replace the older Fannin Field, whose two runways in Panama City no longer met federal safety-area standards and could not be expanded due to surrounding bay and residential development. Discussions about relocating the airport began in the late 1980s, with the airport authority receiving tentative approval for a new site in northwestern Bay County in 2001 and securing the necessary permits between 2005 and 2007. The relocation was locally controversial, opposed by a majority of voters in a non-binding 2004 referendum and challenged in court on environmental grounds, though these efforts did not halt construction. The new airport was completed and opened for commercial flights on 23 May 2010, becoming the first airport in the United States designed and built from scratch since the September 11 attacks. The airport's ICAO-related code ECP was adopted after the originally sought code TFB (for The Florida Beaches) was found to already be in use elsewhere; ECP is said to stand for Emerald Coast of the Panhandle.
The airport is an active commercial gateway served by several major US airlines with domestic connections to hubs such as Atlanta, Houston, Nashville and others, alongside general aviation traffic using the same 10,000-foot runway. A planned crosswind runway, part of the airport's original long-term design, had not been built as of the airport's opening but has since been the subject of construction plans to add a second 10,000-foot runway to improve operations in crosswind conditions.
