Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport

Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport (IATA: VPS, ICAO: KVPS, FAA LID: VPS) is an airport located within Eglin Air Force Base, on the municipal boundary of Valparaiso, and near Destin and Fort Walton Beach in Okaloosa County, Florida. The airport was previously named Northwest Florida Regional Airport until February 17, 2015, and Okaloosa Regional Airport until September 2008.

Not to be confused with Destin Executive Airport.
Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport

Eglin Air Force Base
USGS 1999 orthophoto
Summary
Airport typePublic / Military
Owner/OperatorUnited States Air Force
ServesFort Walton Beach, Destin
Locationwithin Eglin Air Force Base, adjacent to Valparaiso
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL87 ft / 27 m
Coordinates30°29′00″N 086°31′31″W
Websitewww.FlyVPS.com
Map
VPS
Location of airport in Florida / United States
VPS
VPS (the United States)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
12/30 11,987 3,654 Asphalt
1/19 10,001 3,048 Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Aircraft operations126,060

Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport is served by the regional airline affiliates of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines which fly nonstop regional jet service to their respective hubs in the southern and eastern United States. Delta Air Lines also operates mainline jet service to its hub in Atlanta (ATL), while Allegiant Air flies mainline jets nonstop to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport (BLV) located near Belleville, Illinois, and also nonstop to its midwest base in Cincinnati (CVG) as well as nonstop to its company headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In early 2017, Allegiant Air announced a major expansion at the airport as a new base of operations for this "low-cost" airline with a total of 18 domestic destinations to be served nonstop from the Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport on a seasonal basis with mainline jet aircraft such as the Airbus A319 by June 2017.[3] According to a press release issued by Allegiant Air, Chief Operating Officer Jude Bricker stated, "Our presence in Florida continues to grow as we announce our largest expansion into a Florida destination in the company's history. A new base in Destin/Fort Walton Beach will allow us to better serve travelers...". In May 2018, Allegiant Air established a full-time, year-round base there, serving 22 cities with direct service on Airbus A320 aircraft.

In 2008 the FAA recorded over 373,808 enplanements at the airport.[4]

Only commercial air traffic is allowed. Non-commercial operations by general aviation and business aircraft must use nearby Destin Executive Airport.

History

In 1957, The Okaloosa County Air Terminal opened on Eglin Air Force Base in building 89 with 3 personnel (Airport Manager, Security and Admin Support). Southern Airways was the only passenger airline, with Douglas DC-3s direct to Atlanta via several stops.[5] Passengers entered the base through the East Gate near Valparaiso, thus the airport code of VPS. Southern would later upgrade their service into the airport with 40-passenger Martin 404 propliners before initiating the first scheduled passenger jet flights at VPS.

1967: Southern Airways introduced Douglas DC-9-10 jetliner service into VPS thus becoming the first airline to operate jets into the airport.

1968: According to the September 3, 1968, Southern Airways system timetable, the airline was operating daily nonstop DC-9-10 jet service to Atlanta and New Orleans with direct, no change of plane DC-9 jet flights twice a day to New York City LaGuardia Airport and Washington D.C. Dulles Airport via intermediate stops in Dothan, AL and Columbus, GA.[6]

February 1975: The new James E. Plew Terminal Building of the Okaloosa Air Terminal, on State Road 85, opened in mid-February 1975, with dedication on 22 February. Representative Bob Sikes and Southern Airways President Frank Hulse were some of the speakers.[7] The 32,000 sq ft (3,000 m2) facility cost $1.7 million. Federal grants totaled $472,000, state $80,000, Okaloosa County bond sale $1.1 million, and Southern Airways $190,000. First year enplaned passengers totaled 97,000 with Southern Airways as the sole airline serving VPS with 12 departing flights daily.

1977: South Central Air Transport (SCAT), a commuter air carrier, was serving the airport with flights to New Orleans, LA, Mobile, AL, Montgomery, AL and Panama City, FL flown with Handley Page Jetstream propjets.[8]

1979: On July 1, 1979 Southern Airways merged with North Central Airlines to form Republic Airlines. In July 1979 Republic flew Douglas DC-9-10 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets nonstop from VPS to Atlanta, GA; Dothan, AL; Mobile, AL; New Orleans, LA; Orlando, FL and Tallahassee, FL. Republic also operated direct DC-9 jet service to Baton Rouge, LA; Chicago, IL (O'Hare Airport), Fort Lauderdale, FL; Memphis, TN; Monroe, LA; New York (LaGuardia Airport) and Washington D.C. (Dulles Airport).[9] Prior to the merger Southern flew all of these nonstop and direct DC-9 routes as well and also operated direct DC-9 jet service to Birmingham, AL; Miami, FL and Nashville, TN.[10]

1980s: At the beginning of the 1980s, only Republic Airlines was operating nonstop service between VPS and Atlanta. Republic was operating DC-9-10, DC-9-30 and DC-9-50 jets on the route.[11] As the decade progressed, Delta Air Lines and Eastern Air Lines both added nonstop service between the airport and Atlanta via their respective regional airline code sharing partners, Delta Connection and Eastern Metro Express, both of which operated turboprop aircraft into VPS.[12] The Delta Connection service was flown by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) operating de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops. The Eastern Metro Express service was flown by Metro Airlines operating British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31 and de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 turboprops. Air New Orleans, a commuter airline, also served VPS during the 1980s with commuter aircraft such as the Beechcraft C99 turboprop and Piper prop aircraft. Destinations served by Air New Orleans from VPS included Birmingham, AL; Mobile, AL; New Orleans, LA; Orlando, FL; Panama City, FL; Pensacola, FL and Tampa, FL.[13]

1986–1987: On October 1, 1986, Northwest Airlines completed its merger with Republic Airlines. Northwest flew only one route from VPS: nonstop to Memphis, a Northwest hub which was also a former Republic and Southern Airways hub. By September 1987 Northwest had four non-stops a day to Memphis with stretched McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 and DC-9-50s.[14] Later Northwest would reduce its schedule from VPS to three daily DC-9s nonstop to Memphis.[15] No other airline flew jets into VPS until Valujet/Airtran appeared in the 1990s.

1998: AirTran Airways was serving the airport at this time with jet service. According to the August 1, 1998 AirTran system timetable, two nonstop flights a day were operated to Atlanta with direct, one stop service once a day to Washington, D.C. Dulles Airport. AirTran operated McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners into VPS.[16] However, by the end of 2001, AirTran had ceased all service into the airport after commencing service to Pensacola.[17]

November 2004: The current Northwest Florida Regional Airport opened its doors following an expansion with more parking, a larger aircraft parking apron, a second parallel taxiway, landscaping and a new 110,000 sq ft (10,000 m2) passenger terminal.

January 2008: Ground was broken for the Consolidated Rental Car Service Facility located on 22 acres (89,000 m2) east of the airport. This facility will have offices for five rental car companies and rental car service facilities with hydraulic lifts, automated car washes, gas pumps and vacuum islands and a consolidated fuel farm for aviation and unleaded gasoline. A cargo facility and new offices for airport maintenance will be built to the east of the terminal.

May 2009: The Consolidated Rental Car Service Facility opened on a new 22-acre (89,000 m2) leasehold just east of the main terminal. This $14 million project came in on time and under budget and was funded with rental car user fees.

January 2010: Delta Air Lines completed its merger with Northwest Airlines on January 31, 2010. Delta then scaled back the Northwest hub operation in Memphis, and service between VPS and MEM was discontinued in favor of nonstop flights to Delta's hub in Atlanta.

2011: Vision Airlines began a small scheduled passenger hub operation at VPS with flights to Asheville, NC; Atlanta, GA; Baton Rouge, LA; Columbia, SC; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Fort Myers, FL; Greenville/Spartanburg, SC; Huntsville, AL; Knoxville, TN; Lafayette, LA; Las Vegas, NV; Little Rock, AR; Louisville, KY; Sanford/Orlando, FL; Savannah, GA; Shreveport, LA; St. Louis, MO; and St. Petersburg, FL. Vision flew Boeing 737 jetliners and Dornier 328 turboprops.[18] Vision later ended all flights at the airport and shut down its VPS hub.

February 17, 2015: Northwest Florida Regional Airport changed its name to Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport on a 3–2 vote.

March 2016 : GLO Airlines began less than daily, seasonal service from VPS to Little Rock (LIT) and New Orleans (MSY) using 30-seat Saab 340B turboprop aircraft. GLO has since ceased all flights and is no longer in business.

May/June 2016: Allegiant Air began scheduled service to VPS from Cincinnati (CVG), Ft Lauderdale (FLL), Oklahoma City (OKC), Knoxville (TYS), Memphis (MEM) and St Louis/Belleville (BLV) flying Airbus A319, A320, and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 mainline jet aircraft. The Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport became a focus city for the airline at this time.

September 2016: Contour Airlines began flying less than daily, seasonal service from Bowling Green, KY (BWG) to VPS using 30-seat British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 41 turboprop aircraft.

January 2017: Allegiant Air announced a major expansion with a new base of operations to be located on the airport with a total of eighteen (18) domestic destinations to be served nonstop on seasonal basis with mainline jet aircraft by June 2017 with most of the planned new service to begin in May 2017.[3]

May 2019: Silver Airways began daily service to Orlando, FL (MCO) from VPS using a 34-seat Saab 340 turboprop aircraft.[19]

Facilities
Gates at VPS

Destin–Fort Walton Beach Airport and Eglin AFB share two runways: 12/30 is 11,987 ft × 300 ft (3,654 m × 91 m) asphalt/concrete and 1/19 is 10,001 ft × 300 ft (3,048 m × 91 m) asphalt. In the year ending March 31, 2006, the airport had 126,060 aircraft operations, average 345 per day: 71% military, 19% airline, 8% general aviation and 2% air taxi.[2]

The airport has a 116,000 sq ft (10,800 m2) passenger terminal with five second-level gates with passenger jet ways and three ground-level commuter gates with passenger jet ways.

The two-level terminal opened in November 2004. The old terminal building was demolished soon after. The terminal has areas for ticketing and baggage claim and upper and lower courses with gates. The first level has Gates A1, A2, and A3 and waiting areas and concessions. The second-level concourse has Gates B1, B2, and B3 and a restaurant and concession areas. The terminal was designed to allow future expansion. The Northwest Florida Regional Airport Master Plan Update says a project to extend the concourse 200 ft (61 m) and add three gates is under consideration (2010).

Access to the terminal is off of State Road 85. Parking facilities are to the left, the terminal or loop is straight ahead and rental car return is to the right. The airport loop road has two pass-through lanes on the left and three arrival-departure lanes in front of the terminal. The loop road is a two-lane asphalt roadway about ¾ mile long. Short-term and long-term parking facilities are available. The parking facilities were improved in the early 2000s (decade) as part of the new terminal expansion. These were designed with the Transportation Security Administration's "300-foot rule" in mind, and satisfy the 300-foot (91 m) distance between parked vehicles and the terminal building.

Okaloosa County owns and operates the airport terminal, which is on 131 acres of Eglin AFB property that is leased from the U.S. Department of the Air Force. The property is leased until 2031 and limits aircraft operations at 84 per day. It is unique in that the county staffs the airport, yet it leases the property from the USAF. Okaloosa County Commission serves as a policy board and hires the airport staff.

The current Director of Airports is Tracy Stage, A.A.E.

This airport is just under sixteen miles away from Destin and takes approximately twenty-five minutes to get to Destin.[20]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Allegiant Air Baltimore, Belleville/St. Louis, Cincinnati, Fayetteville/Bentonville, Grand Rapids (begins March 5, 2021),[21] Newark, Oklahoma City
Seasonal: Austin, Bloomington/Normal,[22] Boston,[23] Charlotte–Concord, Chicago–Midway, [23] Chicago–Rockford, Cleveland, Columbus–Rickenbacker, Dayton, Des Moines, Evansville, Houston–Hobby, [23] Huntington, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Knoxville, Lexington, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Newburgh,[24] Omaha, Peoria, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, Shreveport, Springfield/Branson, Toledo, Tulsa, Wichita
American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth
American Eagle Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington–National
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare
Delta Air Lines Atlanta
Delta Connection Seasonal: Atlanta
Silver Airways Seasonal: Orlando[25]
United Express Houston–Intercontinental
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Denver

Delta Air Lines currently flies mainline jets into the airport with Airbus A319 and Boeing 717 jetliners.[26] Delta Connection flies Canadair CRJ-200s and Canadair CRJ-700s from VPS as well.[26] In May 2016, Allegiant Air began service to the airport with Airbus A319, A320 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 mainline jet aircraft. Regional airlines serving the airport operate Canadair CRJ or Embraer ERJ regional jets. As a result of the American Airlines/US Airways merger, nonstop service between VPS and Reagan National in Washington, D.C. (DCA) was discontinued in early 2014 and then resumed in 2016 only to be discontinued once again. American Eagle now operates this Washington D.C. service on a seasonal basis. United Express flies daily regional jet service between VPS and Houston (IAH), as well as seasonal service to Chicago (ORD). American Eagle currently serves Charlotte (CLT), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), and Chicago (ORD) (seasonal) while American operates mainline jet service between the airport and DFW.[27] Regional air carrier Silver Airways operates Saab 340 turboprop aircraft while charter airline Swift Air flies Boeing 737 jetliners.

Statistics

Top destinations
Busiest domestic routes from VPS (November 2019 – October 2020)[28]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Atlanta, Georgia 122,920 Delta
2 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 89,560 American
3 Charlotte, North Carolina 68,770 American
4 Cincinnati, Ohio 33,030 Allegiant
5 St. Louis–Belleville, Illinois 28,930 Allegiant
6 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 21,020 United
7 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 10,450 Allegiant
8 Washington–National, DC 10,090 American
9 Fayetteville, Arkansas 10,090 Allegiant
10 Louisville, Kentucky 9,060 Allegiant

References
  1. Tony Judnich (2018-02-14). "llegiant, VPS announce new base, new routes, new jobs". Northwest Florida Daily News. Gannett Co., Inc.
  2. FAA Airport Form 5010 for VPS PDF, effective 2008-07-31.
  3. http://www.allegiantair.com, Press Releases
  4. "Commercial Service Airports(Primary and Non-primary), Calendar Year 2008" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. December 17, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2011. Rank 137; identified as "Eglin AFB"
  5. timetableimages.com, January 7, 1958 Southern timetable
  6. http://www.timetableimages.com, Sept. 3, 1968 Southern Airways system timetable
  7. Fort Walton Beach, Florida, "Terminal Dedication Saturday", Playground Daily News, Friday 21 February 1975, Volume 30, Number 13, page 1A.
  8. http://www.timetableimages.com, May 15, 1977 South Central Air Transport (SCAT) timetable
  9. departedflights.com, July 1, 1979 Republic timetable
  10. departedflights.com, July 1, 1978 Southern timetable
  11. http://www.departedflights.com; April 1, 1981 Official Airline Guide (OAG), ATL-VPS flight schedules
  12. http://www.departedflights.com; Feb. 15, 1989 & Dec. 15, 1989 editions, Official Airline Guide (OAG), ATL-VPS flight schedules
  13. http://www.departedflights.com; May 1, 1982 & Jan. 1, 1986 Air New Orleans system timetable route maps
  14. departedflights.com, September 9, 1987 Northwest timetable
  15. departedflights.com, April 1995 Official Airline Guide (OAG), North American edition
  16. http://www.departedflights.com; Aug. 1, 1998 AirTran system timetable
  17. http://www.departedflights.com; Nov. 15, 2001 AirTran system timetable route map
  18. http://www.visionairlines.com, Press Releases
  19. "Article". www.silverairways.com. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  20. https://destinflorida.com/journal/which-airport-do-i-use-when-flying-to-destin
  21. https://ir.allegiantair.com/news-releases/news-release-details/allegiant-announces-major-service-expansion-15-new-nonstop
  22. "Allegiant Announces Service Expansion In 11 Cities". Allegiant Airlines.
  23. "Allegiant Announces Largest Service Expansion In Company History With 3 New Cities And 44 Nonstop Routes". Allegiant Airlines.
  24. https://www.allegiantair.com/search/route-announcements-011420
  25. Jordan Green. "Silver Airways Announces Service Between Orlando and Destin". AirlineGeeks.
  26. Delta Air Lines June 2013 timetable
  27. "Flight schedules and notifications". Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  28. "Top 10 Destination Airports (U.S. Only, Passengers (000))". T-100 Domestic Market (US Carriers).
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