Arnold Palmer runway widening begins, despite rain

Rainy weather didn’t stop contractors from starting work Monday on a project that will give pilots a bigger target when they land at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

General contractor Golden Triangle Construction began stockpiling stone that will be used this year as it widens the runway from 100 feet to 150 feet at the airport in Unity Township, near Latrobe.

Later in the evening, electrical work was set to begin for revamped approach lights at the runway.

The Westmoreland County Airport Authority worked for at least six years to land government funding for the $13.2 million project, said Don Rossi, assistant secretary-treasurer.

He said the authority was able to demonstrate the need for the wider runway because the annual passengers it served topped 300,000 two years in a row — 2018 and 2019.

“It’s for the future,” Rossi said of the widening. “It represents a major step in Latrobe aviation. It opens the door to many avenues.”

Authority Executive Director Gabe Monzo said the wider runway will provide more leeway for pilots of larger airplanes — like the 175-passenger Airbus operated by the airport’s sole commercial carrier, Spirit Airlines.

“Instead of diverting aircraft to Pittsburgh or Cleveland during challenging weather, we’ll be able to land them without a problem,” Monzo said.

Golden Triangle is expected to labor into the summer to complete initial work, adding 25 feet to the edge of the runway farthest from the airport terminal. That work will be restricted to nighttime so as not to interfere with general aviation and charter flights in and out of the airport, Monzo said.

Concerns about travel during the coronavirus pandemic kept away most of the would-be Spirit passengers, and finally shut down all of the airline’s flights from the Unity airport last month.

The plummeting air traffic numbers prompted furloughing about a third of the airport’s 90 employees. On the other hand, Monzo noted, the decreased activity at the airport means runway contractors will be able to work 10 hours a day, four days per week, instead of just eight hours a day.

The runway is slated to close completely Sept. 9-24, when Golden Triangle will extend the edge of the runway closest to the terminal. Monzo said the contractor will follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to help protect workers from potential coronavirus exposure.

When the coronavirus has run its course, Rossi predicted, “Everything will come back to normal, and beyond normal.”