Locals should pay attention to the skies in the coming weeks and months as international flights start to make touchdown in the Vero Beach airport.
Rodger Pridgeon began his mission to bring a customs office to the airport seven years ago, and now its finally come to fruition
"My drive and vision was to increase the traffic here at Vero Beach, but it was also to satisfy the customer. A lot of people fly international out of Vero, but they have to clear at other places. Its quite inconvenient. I started in 2018 with the vision. I had a letter to the governor, he signed it and approved it. I went through city council and went through all the hoops. It took until now, so it's been a 7 year process."
The addition off the facility is projected to provide as massive boost both to the airport and local the economy, with an expected 30 percent increase in air traffic.
"We've already seen quite an uptick in the aircraft that are based with us. Local economy will have rental cars, restaurants, real estate, more people to the area.
At the end of the day though, for locals, this change is going to make traveling a whole lot more convenient.
"It makes it more convenient for them to travel, and I think they will travel more international flights for that. It's just an ease of getting in and out."