Vero Beach airport adds service while Treasure Coast International eyes pie in the sky

There's a downside to having a lot of potential, because with potential come expectations. And when expectations can't be met, it leads to disappointment.

Which is sort of where we are with regard to Treasure Coast International Airport, which offers no regularly scheduled commercial flights despite being in a metro area with more than a half million people.

It's not for lack of desire. While officials at Martin County's Witham Field have expressed no interest in hosting commercial flights, that's not true of their northern neighbors.

George Landry, St. Lucie County administrator, has expressed interest in getting commercial flights at Treasure Coast International. In fact, quite a bit of groundwork has already been laid toward that end.

St. Lucie County officials have been improving airport lighting, signage, infrastructure ― even painting markings on the tarmac at the Fort Pierce airport ― in hopes of getting Part 139 certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.

As of this writing, though, there's been nothing to show for those efforts.

Meanwhile, up the road at Vero Beach Regional Airport, commercial air service seems to be thriving and growing. A few days ago, Breeze Airways announced plans to add flights between Vero Beach and Providence, Rhode Island, starting Nov. 2.

Breeze also offers service connecting Vero Beach to Hartford, Connecticut; Norfolk, Virginia, and White Plains, New York.

This is terrific news for Vero Beach residents and others who live nearby and would like to travel to one of those cities. Vero Beach officials should be commended for their efforts to make Breeze and its passengers feel welcome.

Still, it makes more sense for Treasure Coast International to emerge as the region's preeminent provider of commercial air service.

Vero Beach may be too far north for travelers from Martin or southern St. Lucie counties, which are a comparable driving distance to Palm Beach International Airport. Vero Beach's potential service area is boxed-in to the north by Melbourne Orlando International Airport.

Regardless of Vero Beach's geographic limitations, it's likely few in the community want to sacrifice the tranquility they could lose if the city's airport continues to add too many flights.

In contrast, Treasure Coast International sits in an area that is largely undeveloped. Treasure Coast International is also near the center of the Treasure Coast, a convenient drive off Interstate 95 for most people living in the three coastal counties.

Much of the infrastructure needed to support commercial flights is already in place.

There's a terminal building that looks like it could comfortably seat about 36 passengers. There's also a U.S. Customs office next door to the terminal.

There's a restaurant, Airport Tiki, a short walk from the terminal. There's a rental car business that serves some of the airport's current users, which include a variety of aviation-related businesses.

Treasure Coast International has had commercial flights before. In 2019, Fly the Whale, a small commuter airline, discontinued its service between Treasure Coast International and Tallahassee.

Reasonable people can disagree about which airlines or types of flights Treasure Coast International ought to try to pursue.

Would it be better, for example, to focus on giving travelers options of flying to and from less-crowded airports near major population centers, as Breeze is doing in Vero Beach? Or would it make more sense to focus on providing service to regional hubs ― like Atlanta or Charlotte, North Carolina ― that could provide travelers with a broader range of transfer options?

Since "international" is part of the name, should the Fort Pierce airport try to secure at least one flight to a city in the Bahamas or some other Caribbean destination?

All of those are fair questions. Maybe there's no single right answer.

What we do know is this: The undeveloped land around Treasure Coast International isn't going to stay undeveloped forever. If the airport ends up being surrounded by cookie-cutter subdivisions, the opposition to adding commercial service will be much greater in the future.

Treasure Coast International, with its much larger potential customer base, could easily be as good or better than the regional airports found in medium-sized Florida cities like Tallahassee and Gainesville.

But the time to make that happen is now. Otherwise, Treasure Coast International is going to miss its boarding call.

Editorials published by TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers are decided collectively by its editorial board. To respond to this editorial with a letter to the editor, email up to 300 words to TCNLetters@TCPalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Treasure Coast airport grounded as Vero Beach adds passenger service