VERO BEACH, Fla. — Air travel on the Treasure Coast is growing along with the population.
St. Lucie County is working to get commercial airline service, and it hopes to follow in the footsteps of Indian River County. That's where passenger numbers at Vero Beach Regional Airport have seen dramatic growth in the last year.
As passengers got off a late afternoon flight that landed in Vero Beach after departing from Providence, Rhode Island, customers couldn't stop raving about Breeze Airways' service at the airport.
"Vero is the best," passenger Ivy Ozuna said. "I love it, and it goes exactly where I need it to go."
Breeze Airways is the only airline that currently flies to the Treasure Coast.
"We never expected this level of success and this expansion this quickly," Vero Beach Regional Airport Director Todd Scher said.
Scher said the airport served about 86,000 passengers in 2023. Last year, that number more than doubled to over 177,000 passengers.
"(Those figures are) not really impressive numbers for a really big airport but pretty impressive for us," Scher said.
Since more travelers are using the airport, it has employees looking at ways to keep travelers comfortable.
"It's challenging, to say the least," Scher said. "I would say our facilities are adequate for this level of airline activity but just barely."
In 2025, the airport will add some covered walkways to and from the aircraft along with a covered baggage claim area. This comes after $2.5 million in grants from the Florida Department of Transportation and the FAA.
One of the perks of flying out of Vero Beach is free parking. The popularity of the airport though has airport leaders looking at paving more airport spaces and hopefully still keeping them free.
Currently, there are 32 flights per week out of Vero Beach with eight destinations.
"By contrast, when we first started to talking with Breeze in late 2022, they were thinking (of having) maybe six to eight flights a week to begin with," Scher said.
A Breeze spokesperson said the Vero Beach to Westchester County, New York, route was their second most popular during November.
"We love our connection to the Vero Beach community," Breeze airline spokesman Ryne Williams said. "It's a great fit for our business model and the perfect example of the 'Breeze effect' we often see when bringing service to unserved and underserved markets."
