Spirit Airlines to cut flights from Arnold Palmer Regional to Ft. Lauderdale

Arnold Palmer Regional Airport is marketing itself to other low-cost carriers as Spirit Airlines told officials it will be halting its flights from the Unity area to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Dec. 5.

Spirit’s decision leaves Orlando as the sole destination for commercial flights from the airport near Latrobe, where Florida-based Spirit is the only commercial carrier.

Spirit informed local officials about the move about two weeks ago, said Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority.

The seasonal flights from Arnold Palmer airport to Myrtle Beach, S.C., were eliminated last weekend and are not expected to resume until February or March, Monzo said.

Erik Hofmeyer, a spokesman f0r Spirit, could not be reached for comment.

In September, Spirit Airlines eliminated its seasonal flights from the Unity airport to Fort Myers, Fla. Spirit had operated that route from November to May, with three flights a week to the Florida gulf coast city.

It is not unusual for Spirit Airlines to cut service to Fort Lauderdale in the winter, said Mike Boyd, owner of Boyd International Group, an Evergreen, Colo.-based aviation consulting firm. Fort Lauderdale is a destination for the cruise line market and Spirit is serving the market for those going on vacation, the “discretionary traveler,” rather than the passenger who has to travel to a particular city, Boyd said.

“Latrobe (airport) has been an important part of the market for Spirit,” he said.

In an effort to land other airlines interested in providing service, Monzo said he has provided information about the airport to other low-cost carriers, such as Jet Blue in New York, Avelo Airlines in Hartford, Conn., and Denver-based Frontier Airlines. That information includes details about the county-owned airport, its runways, demographics — including population within a 50-mile radius — and equipment and facilities.

Spirit’s decision to eliminate service to Fort Lauderdale comes after the airline on Oct. 19 approved a $3.8 billion buyout from Jet Blue. Spirit took the Jet Blue deal after ending merger talks with Frontier Airlines, which offered Spirit shareholders less money than Jet Blue. That deal is awaiting regulatory approval.

The loss of the Fort Lauderdale destination, coupled with the end of seasonal service to Myrtle Beach, could result in Arnold Palmer airport ending the year with fewer arrivals and departures than in the pre-covid year of 2019.

Spirit flew 110,982 passengers in and out of the Unity airport in the first 10 months of the year. When combined with expected holiday travel the last two months of the year, the carrier was on pace to come close to the 155,905 passengers using the airport in the pre-covid year of 2019, according to a report issued by the airport authority.

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