Official says deal for new airline within reach at Palmer airport

Interest jumped after Spirit Airlines pulled its popular service to Orlando.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

Negotiations have progressed significantly with one or more commercial airlines to fly from Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe, the executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority said Tuesday.

Gabe Monzo said talks with national carriers interested in operating routes from the Palmer airport intensified after Spirit Airlines pulled its popular service to Orlando, Fla., from the schedule starting in mid-April.

“We’ve been having discussions and expect that within a month we’ll have an offer,” Monzo said following March’s public meeting of the authority’s board of directors. “One of the things they (airlines) are telling me is that there is now interest because Spirit’s Orlando route has been strong and now Spirit is not supporting it. We’re just waiting for an offer.”

Monzo, as he did last week after word of Spirit’s cutbacks was reported, declined to reveal specifics of the negotiations but confirmed that he has been in talks with multiple carriers that have expressed interest in flying routes from the Westmoreland County airport.

Spirit has served as the airport’s lone commercial carrier since 2011, but the company’s financial struggles — which resulted in two bankruptcies and failed merger efforts — led to major service cutbacks throughout the country, including subtractions from its schedule at the Palmer airport.

Last year, the airline flew to three destinations from Westmoreland County: Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in Florida and Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Fort Lauderdale route ended last fall, and service to Orlando will cease next month when seasonal flights, five days a week, resume to Myrtle Beach. That service had been on hiatus since November.

The reduced flight schedule is expected to impact the airport’s bottom line, as the facility collects $750 for every commercial flight that lands there.

The airport’s $5.1 million budget is supported through a nearly $2.6 million subsidy from Westmoreland County. That allocation is used to cover general operating costs and repayment of the authority’s existing debt, which is about $800,000 annually. Another $750,000 funds Latrobe Airline Services, which provides flight-day services for commercial travel. That service includes personnel costs related to the facility’s airline ticket counter, reservation desk, baggage handlers, de-icing services and tarmac staff.

The subsidy is paid to the airport authority, which provides key personnel for Spirit’s operations. Monzo said the service is not exclusive to Spirit and that another carrier that signs on to fly from Palmer airport would have access to that personnel.

“All our people would have to do is change their shirts,” Monzo said.

Monzo is slated to retire at the end of April after a four-decade career at the airport, including the past 17 as the authority’s executive director. Monzo will be replaced in May by Maurice Haas, who currently serves as airport facility manager.

The authority board on Tuesday voted to hire Monzo as a part-time consultant following his retirement. Monzo will be limited to 1,000 hours and a maximum of $50,000, said board solicitor Amber Leechalk.