Renting a car at Palm Beach International Airport will soon cost more, with a $6 per-day increase for on-site rentals and $5 for off-site rentals.
The airport’s first “customer-facility charge” will begin May 1. The revenue will help pay for a $200 million-plus consolidated rental car facility that will bring all rental car operations into a single complex.
Rental companies would use a single site for both on-airport and off-airport operations, rather than operating from different locations scattered throughout the airport area along Belvedere Road and Congress Avenue in suburban West Palm Beach.
The Palm Beach County Department of Airports expects the facility to reduce traffic congestion near the terminal, simplify the rental-car process for passengers and either eliminate or reduce shuttle busing from off‑site lots.
A customer facility charge is a fee assessed by an airport on a rental car transaction. At PBIA, the revenue collected must be used only for transportation-ground improvements. The county commission adopted a resolution authorizing the imposition of the fee. The uses are also spelled out in contracts with the rental car companies at the airport.
Rental-car companies collect the fee from customers and then pass it on to the airport. Most large- and medium-hub airports already have such a per-day fee, including Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport .
A PBIA spokesperson indicated that plans for the proposed rental-car facility are still in the early stages. Currently, it is not part of the airport’s five-year capital improvement plan, but county commissioners recommended a year ago that it become part of it when the plan is updated this year.
On March 3, the county commission approved the new rental-car fee, even though the facility is not expected to open until at least 2030. A 19-acre site near Belvedere within the airport site is the likely location. It could accommodate up to 2,400 cars.
Under consideration is an elevated people-mover system that would connect to the terminal area. Shuttle buses are expected to be used as an interim measure to get customers to and from the airport. Depending on the volume of business, the county is prepared to buy additional land to expand the coverage to 32 acres.
The Department of Airports told commissioners last year that the construction costs for the new facility in 2023 dollars would be $171 million, with another $120 million for design fees and construction contingencies.
The department is recommending the fee rise in 2030 to $8 per day from $6, estimating that by then it will have generated over $200 million. By 2035, proceeds from the fee will have risen to nearly $400 million.
PBIA does a booming business in rental cars. In the last three months of 2025, nearly 900,000 passengers rented cars from vendors at the airport, a 3% increase over the same period in 2024.
Hertz and Avis were the leading revenue producers in December 2025, reporting $2.6 million and $2.2 million in revenue, respectively.
The Department of Airports has said it must find new revenue sources to pay for essential upgrades at PBIA. Costs have escalated due to labor and supply chain issues The rental-car surcharge is an example of the airport capturing new revenue sources.
In 2024, PBIA raised parking rates and added valet service in 2025. The higher rates have generated over $2 million in additional revenue, helping pay off $7.9 million in loans the airport took out for improvements such as expanding Concourse B and building a fire-rescue station.
Mike Diamond is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
