Regarding the editorial “Losing single carrier Spirit is bananas for Arnold Palmer Regional Airport” (May 5, TribLive): I teach business classes at a local university, and two of my subjects are strategic capacity planning and forecasting. These normally go hand-in-hand, as you need a strong forecast to do any expansion and strategic capital planning.
I can’t believe there’s any way somebody forecast the airport would need to double the size of the terminal, as there was no indication of doubling their business.
We also teach you should not have all your eggs in one basket, which you mentioned. The airport had all its eggs in Spirit airlines for a number of years, and Spirit has been in trouble for over five years. I can’t believe anyone was predicting Spirit was going to double their business, and the airport has not been able to get another partner in numerous years and probably not in the foreseeable future.
When they say they are working on this, I think it’s all a smoke screen. Whoever made this decision should probably be fired. That’s what happens in private industry. Funny how government entities think they don’t have to operate like a business.
John Russo
North Huntingdon