International flights will begin landing in Vero Beach daily late in the coming season, when a U.S. Customs facility opens at the airport.
“We are on track for April 1,” said Rodger Pridgeon, president of Corporate Air, the man behind the project.
The shell of the building is complete with interior work underway near the western edge of the airport, visible from 43rd Avenue.
When it is finished, the high-tech, 4,000-square foot compound will have regular operating hours Wednesday through Sunday, from 11 am until 7 pm, but it will be available any hour of the day or night with advance notice.
“We can operate anytime, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, but pilots will have to call ahead if they are landing outside normal hours,” Pridgeon said.
While most of the people flying in on private jets from the Bahamas and other foreign lands will be respectable residents of John’s Island, Windsor and other upscale communities on Vero’s barrier island, the Customs house will be equipped to deal with Jason Bourne types, too, with armed customs agents, bulletproof walls, heavy concrete bollards to prevent ramming and two jail cells.
Pridgeon said detentions “happen all the time,” at Customs facilities when people present their passports and agents detect something awry, such as an outstanding warrant or illicit goods.
A full-service FBO – short for Fixed Base Operator – Corporate Air provides hanger space, fuel, aircraft maintenance, catering, hotel and restaurant concierge services and a 5,000-square-foot private terminal for its airborne clients.
Pridgeon expects the company’s revenue to increase by 30 percent when the Customs facility opens in April, and said there will be a spillover benefit for the airport and local economy due to increased air traffic.
“Right now, someone flying in from the Bahamas to Vero Beach has to land in Fort Pierce, clear customs, reload the plane and fly up here,” Pridgeon said. “That’s about a $4,000 cost.”
Not to mention the inconvenience. The whole idea of flying private is to be comfortable, avoid the typical airport hassles and get there quick, but getting out of your jet at 10 o’clock at night on the tarmac in Fort Pierce, answering questions and having your luggage inspected, getting back on the plane, taking off for a short hop to Vero and deplaning again on your way to your island home kind of takes the fun out of it.
Pridgeon believes private flyers living or traveling abroad who have homes in Vero will come more often when the trip gets much easier, along with others who want to visit the area or are clearing customs before flying on to another destination.
“Our feasibility study looked at airports in Stuart and Boca Raton that did what we are doing, and there was a 30- to 32-percent increase in traffic,” Pridgeon said.
That will translate into more car rentals, more restaurant meals and more hotel stays, according to Pridgeon.
“It will benefit the local economy, though we don’t know how much yet,” agreed Airport Director Todd Scher. “The airport will benefit from additional aircraft that use the facilities as we collect gross receipts and fuel flowage concession fees from airport commercial tenants for the privilege of doing business at our airport. We could also potentially see the opportunity of new tenants wishing to relocate to Vero Beach,” due to the ability to clear customs here.
Scher added that, “an air cargo type operations would be a possibility, along with any entity that operates aircraft with a need to base at an airport with Customs.”
“It is a super advantage to have this here,” said Pridgeon, who is paying the $3-million cost of the Customs facility and will be paying the Customs agents’ salaries. “There are so many people here who travel internationally, I am surprised it has taken this long.”
Any business or individual flying into Vero from abroad will have access to the Customs facility for a fee.
The facility will have a secure, fenced area on the west side that Pridgeon called the “red box” where three airplanes can park at the same time while waiting to go through Customs.
After clearing Customs, pilots and passengers will be able to reboard their aircraft if flying on, or exit the other side of the building to a parking lot that stretches between the Corporate Air terminal and the Customs house.
It is that side of the building that is armored with concrete bollards and bulletproof panels, so that the facility has protection from intrusion or attack.
Pridgeon founded Corporate Air almost forty years ago as a one-man airplane repair company. Today his rapidly growing enterprise handles as many as 50 aircraft a day in season, 95 percent of them jets and most belonging to 32963 residents.
“It is an average of 30 or so a day in season,” he said. If business increases as expected that will become an average of 40 jets a day and as many as 65 on the busiest days using Corporate Air’s expanding hanger space and services.
Pridgeon first got the idea to open Vero’s airport to international flights in 2017, applying to U.S. Customs the following year.
“It has been a six-year effort,” Pridgeon said. “We had to get a letter from the governor and one from the city manager and fill out all the paperwork.
“We got approved four years ago for a U.S. Customs User Fee Facility and then had to do all the engineering and draw up a site plan and building plans.
“It’s been an elaborate process. There is so much specialized infrastructure in the building, with the bulletproof panels and all the communication and scanning equipment.
“It took forever to get all the approvals, but we finally got there and broke ground in January. We have had a few things since then that slowed us down a little bit and we made some changes to reduce the budget, but we are on track for April.”
Former county commissioner Tim Zorc, who is a real estate agent, builder and construction consultant, is serving as contractor for the Customs house.
“Tim has been with me since the start of the project, helping secure permits and now overseeing construction,” said Pridgeon.
The airport has helped, too.
“We have helped politically by obtaining support from local and state officials and the necessary federal agencies in order to initiate the project and intended operation,” Scher said.
“This isn’t just me,” Pridgeon said. “It has been a community effort, with great support from the city council, the airport, friends and colleagues.”
Pridgeon’s timing has turned out to be optimal.
Private jet traffic in Florida exploded during the pandemic as covid refugees flocked to the state and new restrictions and health concerns made commercial air travel less appealing.
“With airline restrictions and cancellations, we saw an increase in people flying private, people who had been flying first class who still needed to travel and could afford to buy or charter a plane,” Pridgeon told Vero Beach 32963.
That surge has not let up and Pridgeon just opened a new, $2-million, 20,000-square-foot hanger – his second this year – to accommodate the growing flock of private jets in Florida generally and Vero Beach in particular.
“They are already filling up,” said Pridgeon of the wind-resistant, reinforced metal structures. Each of the new hangers, which are the company’s largest, houses a Global 7500 aircraft along with multiple mid-size jets.
The quality and characteristics of Bombardier’s Global 7500 hint at the affluence of the 32963 area.
The $80-million, 111-foot-long, twin engine jets have 104-foot wing spans and can comfortably accommodate up to 19 passengers. They have luxe sleeping quarters, lounges and small kitchens can travel at nearly the speed of sound – Mach 0.92 – with a range of 7,200 nautical miles, which means they can fly non-stop from Vero to London, Honolulu or Rio de Janeiro.
“I have two Global 7500s based here fulltime and a third that is based here in season,” Pridgeon said. “They aren’t business related. They belong to people here who travel a lot, and the planes fit their needs.”
Pridgeon has four more 20,000-square-foot hangers on his approved site plan. Those hangers are on the opposite side of the airport from his terminal, fronting on a new 7-acre, $7-million, 1-foot-thick concrete ramp – which is an airplane parking/fueling/maintenance area.
He will build additional hangers as business warrants, probably in the near future as Vero continues to grow in population and reputation and the Customs facility further boosts jet traffic.
Chase Bank and the Small Business Administration are backing Pridgeon’s ongoing expansion.
“It is a lot of stress, a lot of exposure, a lot of risk,” Pridgeon said of his ambitious business plan. “But it is an educated risk.”
“For all the luxuries and conveniences private jets offer to travelers in the air, these aircraft spend most of their lives on the ground . . . [and] there’s currently a shortage of places to park them,” according to Barrons. “Hangar deficits are growing increasingly acute [and] . . . orders for private jets continue to increase.”
“Hangar space is a scarce commodity, from basic overnight hangars at popular FBOs to long-term rentals,” David Gitman, president of Monarch Air Group, a jet provider in Fort Lauderdale, told Barrons. “The pandemic created a wave of demand that the industry is struggling to accommodate.”
In a related plus for Corporate Air, hanger rental rates have doubled since 2020.
“We are privileged to have Rodger Pridgeon’s Corporate Air and Tim Zorc’s construction team handling [construction of the Customs facility and hangars]. It is an investment in their local businesses and Vero Beach Regional Airport,” Scher said.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
