The signs are up, so that’s a start.

In March, Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward signed a 10-year contract with OHM Concessions Group to provide eats and drinks to those coming and going from Pensacola International Airport.

The contract include $1.8 million in capital improvements paid entirely by the company to be completed by October.

The matter of concessions at the airport was a politically fraught process as the longtime concessionaire, Robert De Varona and a group of local business owners that included local restaurateur Collier Merrill were not awarded the contract.

Airport director Greg Donovan, who drew some of the political fire in that dispute, is now leaving Pensacola for Melbourne to manage their airport. He has family and professional ties in the Melbourne area.

On Donovan’s watch the ST Aerospace deal was finalized to bring the Singapore-based maintenance, repair and operations facility to the airport; the Hyatt Place Hotel opened and more than $21 million in aviation-related grants were secured for the airport from federal and state sources.

[progresspromise]