Jets set
A new customs and border protection facility is slated to open in February or March 2025 at Vero Beach airport. CORPORATE AIR
And so are planes, thanks to expansion and improvements at Vero Beach airport
BY KERRY FIRTH
The success of Breeze Airways, which has experienced monumental growth in the past year and a half, has spurred a flurry of activity and new development at Vero Beach Regional Airport.
“Last August, they flew 3,923 people enplane, which is the number of people flying out: that’s about at 84% load factor,” said Todd Scher, Vero Beach airport director. “They had about 3,851 deplanes, or arrivals, representing an 82% load factor. And that’s during slow season. Airlines look at 62% to 65% load factors to be profitable. With their unprecedented success, they’ve just added two additional routes and anticipate having 144 departures and arrivals a month, in season.”
In order to better serve Breeze passengers, the airport will be expanding its main terminal and paving a new parking lot in front of the main terminal. “Free parking has been a major selling point for Breeze Airways but their passengers are parking on the grass across the street from the terminal,” said Brandon Dambeck, Vero Beach Airport operations manager. “We plan on paving part of that field, which will give us about 200 to 250 additional spaces — not only for the passengers but for the customers of C.J. Cannon’s and other airport businesses. FDOT will pay nearly $150,000 or 80% of the cost and the airport will pay the rest. Unfortunately, construction on the this and other improvements to this facility will begin right as the busy season hits, so we’ll have to phase it.”
Expansion of the terminal will include ADA compliant bathrooms, upgraded lighting, covered outdoor waiting areas for passengers, and improved aircraft exit lanes with protection from the weather, all the way from the gate to the plane and at the baggage claim area. Extension of a taxiway will open up a previously inaccessible area of the northern airport land.
HANGARS ON THE WAY
Diversified Companies is building 14 box hangers to house some larger prop planes or small jets. DIVERSIFIED COMPANIES
The Vero Beach Regional Airport is becoming a popular hub for private pilots. “There’s a huge demand for hangers to house private aircraft,” said Dambeck. “There is a waiting list of about 140 people willing to rent hanger space as soon as it’s available.”
“Corporate Air is building two new hangers and they are planning on adding four more,” said William Howard, assistant director of Vero Beach Regional Airport. “Dyer Auto Group is building a private hanger near the fire station; three box hangers are being built by a private investor on the north ramp; and the city recently executed a lease for a developer to build 46 small hangers in the midfield.”
Diversified Companies, based in Deerfield Beach, will also be helping to fill that need with the construction of 46 hangers. “We’ve got 32 T-shaped hangers, which are about 1100 to 1200 square feet, to house smaller private prop planes,” said Chad Maxey, vice president of development. “We have 14 larger box hangers, ranging in size from 50 x 50 feet and 60 x 60 feet. Those will house some of your larger prop planes and possibly a small jet. We’ve done some pre-leasing for key hangers and box hangers, but the rest will be open to the public as soon as we open for a walk through. We’ve reached out to most of the people on the waiting list and they are anxious to have the opportunity. We’ll be starting construction Oct. 1 and hope to have them available for lease within a year.
“We think we’ll have some T-hangers starting to open around April 2025. The box hangers will take a bit longer with a projected opening around September 2025. There are six buildings so we’ll be opening them one at a time as they are finished.”
Corporate Air’s hangers are much larger, with the newest spanning about 20,000 square feet — enough space to accommodate five business-sized jets in each hanger. “We’ve already leased two large aircraft for the hangers, but we can surround them with other aircraft around the perimeter inside the hangers,” said Roger Pridgeon, owner of Corporate Air. “We are leasing those spaces right now. With the addition of six new hangers we’ll have a total of eight hangers at the airport.”
CUSTOMS COMING
Corporate Air is also building a new customs and border-protection facility, slated to open in February or March 2025. “It’s so exciting to be able to expand with the community’s needs,” said Pridgeon. “There’s a demand for a customs facility here. Many of our customers fly in from the outside the country, clear customs at another facility and then hop over here. It’s very costly on the aircraft, time consuming and inconvenient. So, to be able to come right into Vero Beach and clear customs in your home base is not only beneficial to us, it’s going to be beneficial to the customer and the community. We did a feasibility study, which is a requirement by U.S. Customs, and in nearby Boca Raton it raised overall airport traffic 30 to 31 percent — as well as the revenue. It’s a big boost, not only to my business but to the community.”
Any aircraft flying into Vero Beach carrying 20 passengers or fewer will be able to clear customs at the new facility. “We’ll maintain regular business hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” Pridgeon continued. “But if someone wants to fly in at midnight, we can make arrangements with advance notice. The customs agent is an employee of US Customs, but we pay that agent. We will also have our own staff that will be moving the airplanes in and out of the red box customs area, helping with luggage and accepting payment. We operate on a fee-based plan, with fees charged in accordance with the size of the aircraft.”
Any aircraft flying into Vero Beach carrying 20 passengers or less will be able to clear customs in Vero Beach. CORPORATE AIR
TO THE FUTURE
Even Jetsons-type air taxis may be flying over Vero Beach, soon.
“We have a letter of intent from Skyports Infrastructure to build a ‘vertiport,” serving passenger-carrying, electric, vertical take-off and landing [eVTOL] vehicles,” said Dambeck. “These look like large drones designed to carry four to five people. They use electric power to take off, hover and land vertically, yet they fly with propulsion like a plane. They’ll be used for intermediate transport to nearby airports, like Palm Beach, Stuart, Melbourne and Orlando. The potential lessee would build the facilities to operate these aircrafts and then operators, like Net Jets or Wheels Up, would operate their aircraft out of that terminal. The tenant would also be responsible for building parking lots for those aircrafts to land.”
The outlying land surrounding the airport is also exploding. Plans are underway to build a 116-room Town Place Suite by Marriot hotel on 4.7 acres near the existing Star Suites, north of Aviation Boulevard and across from the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. The hotel will feature a pool and an entertainment venue called Home Run Dugout, where guests can practice their hits in batting bays with soft-toss pitching machines.
Walking Tree Brewery and Indian River Distillery already lease airport property and are in the process of expanding. Orchid Island Brewery is planning on converting an old packing house on airport property into a microbrewery destination, complete with restaurant, pickleball courts and live music.
“I’ve been here 28 and a half years, and for the first 22 years we only executed maybe a lease or two a year, and one capital improvement construction project every couple of years,” Scher said. “Now that we’ve got this aggressive leasing team we’ve got 26 or 27 projects in the works. This is all within three years. There’s a lot of people wanting to build at the airport right now.”
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