The six general aviation airports on Florida’s Treasure Coast have an economic impact of $863 million a year, according to the Florida Department of Transportation’s recently released Aviation Economic Impact Study.
According to a story at TCPalm.com, businesses located on the airports in the three counties, both aviation and non-aviation related, provide jobs for 7,008 workers. Vero Beach Municipal Airport accounted for 4,152 of those jobs, creating an economic impact of $355.6 million a year, while Witham Field had 1,240 jobs and generated $295.5 million a year.
The story quotes Penny Chandler, Indian River Chamber of Commerce president, who said the economic impact expands beyond the airports.
“There is a huge trickle-down effect that comes from all this. There are the service venders, there are all the people that pay close attention to the planes coming in and out, the manufacturing that is done in that area, the service industries.”