American Airlines became the third commercial airline to serve Vero Beach when its first flight from Charlotte, NC, touched down at 11:21 a.m. Thursday, a few minutes ahead of schedule, with 61 passengers aboard.
The American Eagle commuter plane was a small CR9-Canadair jet with a capacity for 76 passengers, operated by the American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines. It had to wait a few minutes at the end of the Vero Beach runway to give a Breeze Airbus bound for Hartford, Connecticut, time to vacate the prime arrival spot at the small terminal, which is undergoing a $5 million renovation and expansion project supposed to be finished this summer.
The plane left again for the return flight to Charlotte with 46 paying passengers aboard a few minutes behind schedule, leaving the terminal at 12:28 p.m. and being airborne at 12:43 p.m.
American Airlines became the third airline in recent years to offer regular passenger service to Vero Beach. Breeze Airways, headquartered in Utah, started its point-to-point services to multiple cities in the Northeast in 2023, and last December, jetBlue joined the fray with daily lights to and from JFK airport in New York City and Logan Airport in Boston.
At a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony, airport director Todd Scher said American Airlines’ arrival in Vero Beach is “a new milestone in the history of the Vero Beach Airport.” He noted that through its hub in Charlotte, American Airlines offers travelers the ability to connect to 170 cities in 26 countries.
Vero Beach Mayor John Cotugno said he saw the start of American Airlines service as a “recognition that Vero Beach is a special place.”
American Airlines’ James Seadler, overseer of regional stations in Florida from Key West to Pensacola, said Vero Beach is “an exciting addition to our network for business as well as leisure travelers.”
