VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Regional Airport is preparing for a busy season as it expands commercial service to include multiple major airlines — JetBlue and American Airlines — joining Breeze Airways in the coming months.
For now, Breeze Airways remains the airport’s only active commercial carrier. JetBlue is set to begin flights from Vero Beach on Dec. 11, followed by American Airlines on Feb. 12.
Airport Director Todd Scher emphasized at a recent Vero Beach city council meeting that the additions were not part of an active recruitment effort by the city.
“These are airlines that approached us because Vero Beach is a great place,” he said. “People want to be here, including the airlines.”
The increased attention has prompted plans for infrastructure improvements, including upgrades to the covered walkways and baggage area.
A major focus, however, has been parking. City leaders have discussed the airport’s parking challenges for several weeks, with Vero Beach Mayor John Cotugno saying it’s one of the most common complaints he receives.
Scher said more parking is on the way.
“We’ve been talking a lot about Parking Lot C, which will be where all the cars are now parked on the grass by the control tower,” he said. “That has been in design for some time now, to pave additional parking spaces in there.”
The design for Parking Lot C is being updated to reflect requested changes from the city during the site plan review, Scher said. Those revisions have pushed back the project’s timeline.
“It’s going to delay it to the point where it seems prudent to just push it out until after the upcoming busy season,” he said. “If we displace all those cars that are on the grass now, it’s going to be very inconvenient for the people that are going to be here in big numbers throughout the busy season.”
Construction on the new lot is expected to begin around May or June 2026. While the city’s proposed changes would increase parking capacity, they would also raise costs.
To help with short-term demand, the airport has partnered with Skyports to create additional overflow parking.
“We now have that parcel five completely at our disposal for overflow parking,” Scher said.
An employee-only lot is also being developed to free up space for travelers.
“We feel that’s going to free up maybe 40 to 45 spots a day,” Scher said. “The timeline on this is to be implemented and operational by maybe the third week in November.”
Mayor Cotugno asked whether the airport had considered other outside options for parking, including public-private partnerships.
“There is a party we have been working with since June that is interested in a land lease of the area around the current parking lots that will not be developed for the intent of developing those,” Scher said. He noted that the arrangement would not be a public-private partnership but rather a lease in which the developer would manage the parking.
Scher added that any future lease would include contingency clauses to protect the city if airlines were to discontinue service in Vero Beach.
The interested party is scheduled to meet with the Airport Commission on Oct. 17 to discuss potential lease terms.