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With airports in Montgomery and Tallahassee, Fla., already eating into Dothan’s travel base, Dothan Regional Airport officials say they are taking a “wait and see” approach to the upcoming international airport in Bay County, Fla.

Construction began earlier this month on the 4,000-acre, $330 million facility to be located between Florida Highways 79 and 77, just north of Panama City. The first phase is scheduled to be complete around May of 2010.

Dothan Regional Airport marketing director Angela McNeal said the two airports maintain a friendly, professional relationship, but the new airport will be counted as competition.

“The way we feel about it is competition is always good,” McNeal said. “We know that they will have a nice new terminal and a nice new facility. We wish the best to them and we are working closely with them and will continue to work closely with them.”

According to the Panama City International Airport Web site, the airport will be served by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Northwest Airlink, Comair and Freedom Airlines. At around 90 miles away, it will be twice as close to Dothan as the current nearest international airport in Atlanta.

McNeal said the airport has not conducted any studies to see how many local travelers could be persuaded to fly into or out of the new airport. She said the airport will continue to market itself to local travelers as a convenient alternative to driving 90 minutes to and from the closest airport.

“What we try to stress with our airport is the convenience and the closeness to home,” she said.

But the airport’s two biggest obstacles remain out of the control of local authorities — price and performance.

Delayed flights from ASA into and out of Dothan often hamper travelers’ schedules. Often, cheaper flights can be found at nearby airports.

McNeal did say continuing efforts are being made to lure other carriers to Dothan. Prospective airlines, however, would have to believe traffic would increase considerably at the airport in order to justify the cost of coming.

And soon, another airport will be vying for other carriers.

“Even though they do have other airlines, and we do not, we always meet up with them at market when we go after additional airlines,” McNeal said.

McNeal said the new airport could also have additional carriers at peak travel times such as spring break and holidays.