The tryout is over and Vero Beach has made the Elite team.
“The flights between Vero Beach and Newark are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future,” Elite Airways Vice President David Dow said. “We’ve already continued our Thursday and Sunday flights through September, and we’ll extend through the end of the year.
“There are no plans to do anything but expand our service.”
In fact, Dow said Elite could announce as soon as next week the addition of more flights between Vero Beach Regional Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
He said airline executives also are considering upgrading to larger jets to meet a greater-than-expected demand and planning to add service to other cities, possibly this summer.
In December, Elite became the first commercial carrier in 20 years to offer passenger service from the Vero Beach airport. The airline was so encouraged by the early response to its non-stop service between here and Newark – many flights were sold out – that it added Fridays and Mondays to its schedule last month, but only through April 1.
City Airport Director Eric Menger said the additional flights “were doing very well” and that the Elite jets that flew between Vero Beach and Newark operated at 97 percent of capacity throughout the month of March.
Menger said he has no major meetings scheduled with Elite executives, but he communicates with them several times each week and they’ve given him no reason to doubt the airline’s commitment to Vero Beach.
Though it’s too soon to gauge the economic impact of Elite’s flights on the local community, Menger said passenger air service has enhanced the airport’s name recognition and efforts to attract more commercial businesses.
