After five years of negotiations, Corporate Air—one of two full-service FBOs at Florida’s Vero Beach Regional Airport (KVRB)—will break ground next week on a U.S. Customs facility. The $3 million, 3,800-sq-ft structure will be built to CBP specifications and located adjacent to the Corporate Air facility on the west side of the airfield.
Construction is expected to take approximately a year and once the user-fee-based facility opens early in 2024, KVRB, which has never previously had customs clearance service, will be able to change its name to Vero Beach International Airport.
“We did a feasibility study based on other towns that have offered the same facility such as Stuart and Boca [Raton],” said Rodger Pridgeon, Corporate Air’s founder, president, and manager. “The feasibility study is pretty much the same in all three places—it boosted the revenue about 30 percent, so this is a big deal for us.” He told AIN that his based customers are particularly eager to welcome the new clearance station, especially large aircraft owners that thus far have needed to stop at an international arrivals airport and put another takeoff and landing cycle on their aircraft.