Arnold Palmer airport to start $22M expansion

The first phase of a $22 million terminal expansion project at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport will start this fall.

The project, which will expand the Unity airport’s terminal by 32,000 square feet, is meant to improve the passenger experience and meet new TSA requirements.

It will expand the TSA screening and baggage claim areas, move hold rooms and Westmoreland County Airport Authority offices, create a new concession space and passenger boarding bridge, refurbish the existing bridge, and upgrade restroom facilities and the HVAC system.

The shell of the terminal and the TSA screening space will be expanded in the first phase. A new passenger gate also will be installed.

This phase will cost about $13 million — $9 million of which will be supplied by a Federal Aviation Administration grant, said airport engineer Scott Kunselman. Work will start in October and ideally wrap up next September, he said.

Bids for phase one were awarded in July. A vacant hangar will be demolished after the Westmoreland Airshow, slated for Aug. 17 and 18, before construction can begin.

Phases two and three will cost about $4.5 million each, Kunselman said.

Bids will go out in the fall for phase two of the project, he said, which focuses on opening a second passenger gate and relocating the county airport authority offices to the lower level of the building.

The airport will submit a grant application for phase two at the start of the new year, Kunselman said. He previously estimated the entire expansion project would be completed in 2026 or early 2027.

The airport also is balancing projects to renovate an air traffic control tower and relocate two of its taxiways.

To meet the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the air traffic control tower will be reconstructed to include an elevator in a $1.2 million renovation, Kunselman said.

“It was built back before ADA,” he said of the tower.

Kunselman estimates the five-month reconstruction will start in November.

Taxiways D and E will be relocated in a $3.5 million project, he said. The timeline for the construction is up in the air, but the start date may be pushed to the spring.

“The problem is we’re running into winter,” Kunselman said. “With any sort of paving project, that gets problematic. Sometimes, it’s better just to wait.”

Airport considers upgrading weather system

The airport also may upgrade the system it uses to communicate weather conditions with pilots.

The airport currently has an AWOS system, or automated weather observation system, Executive Director Gabe Monzo said. This system collects real-time meteorological data and distributes it across the world to assist in air traffic. An ATIS system, or automatic terminal information service, feeds similar weather data to airports, but it also supplies nonweather information essential for landing or departing pilots.

Upgrading to an ATIS system would cost the airport $40,000, Monzo said.

“That doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s not something we have in the operating budget,” he said.