Westmoreland airport authority 'strong about Spirit' while staying in touch with other carriers

Westmoreland County Airport Authority officials say they’ll stick with Spirit for commercial flights at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport although the budget carrier is headed into cloudy skies with its second bankruptcy declaration in less than a year.

Spirit initially sought bankruptcy protection in November and emerged from Chapter 11 in March. Following its most recent bankruptcy filing last month, Spirit has eliminated service to 11 U.S. cities, including San Diego and other West Coast locations.

The sole commercial carrier at Arnold Palmer Regional, Spirit offers flights from that airport near Latrobe to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — and to Myrtle Beach, S.C., a seasonal route that is expected to end for the year in early November.

“We feel strong about Spirit,” authority Executive Director Gabe Monzo said Tuesday. “We think they’re going to do what they’ve got to do to stay in business — and, hopefully, we’re a part of it.

“We’re sticking with Spirit, and we’ll ride it until whatever happens happens. If Spirit is going to stick around, that’s a great thing. If they don’t, we’ll go elsewhere.”

Monzo referred to a letter from aviation consultant Boyd Group International that assesses Arnold Palmer Regional’s relationship with Spirit and the airport’s potential appeal to other low-cost airlines.

“At this time, the care and feeding of Spirit is important,” the consultant advised.

It said Spirit is able to generate more revenue per passenger at Palmer Regional than it does at Pittsburgh International Airport. The average Spirit fare for a flight to Orlando is 12% higher from the Unity airport than from Pittsburgh International, Boyd said.

Boyd noted Spirit flights at Palmer Regional — which it refers to as Latrobe — aren’t geared toward business travelers.

“Instead, these represent a discretionary product for consumers seeking a low-cost, high-value leisure trip,” the consultant wrote. “The airport management has been active in developing liaison with other airlines.

“However, the destinational options for any other leisure-focused carriers are mainly the ones being already served by Spirit. Latrobe cannot likely generate sufficient traffic to support more than one such airline.”

Boyd said Frontier Airlines hasn’t shown interest in smaller airports such as Palmer Regional and hasn’t included Florida destinations among its expansion plans.

The consultant suggested airport officials stay in touch with other budget airlines, such as Avelo and Allegiant. “Their value would be replacement of Spirit should it not survive through the latest bankruptcy filing.

“This is not a comfortable situation to be in for Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, but it reflects the realities of the airline system as they stand today. It is believed that a downsized Spirit can survive, and Latrobe can be a clear part of their route system.”

Since Spirit began service at Palmer Regional, it has served about 3.25 million passengers traveling in and out of the Unity airport. It served 309,817 passengers in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year; this year, through the end of August, Spirit has brought 89,076 passengers to the airport.

Expansion update

The authority is continuing work on the first phase of a planned $28 million expansion of the terminal at the Unity airport. On Tuesday, it approved change orders paying general contractor Allegheny Construction Group $13,911 for two additional steel joists and saved about $1,800 through changes to power units for passenger boarding bridges.

Monzo has said the expansion will make it easier for the airport to serve multiple flights at a given time.

He said the authority is awaiting a response from Southern Airways Express after revisiting an idea that the airline might operate a nine-passenger commuter plane between Palmer Regional and Pittsburgh International airports.

“As soon as we knew the parkway was going to be shut down, I thought that would be a good chance for them,” Monzo said of the airline.

PennDOT has announced plans to fully close a section of the Parkway East for 25 days next year as part of its project to replace a parkway bridge over Commercial Street.