Westmoreland Co. airport authority votes to extend paid parking lot, reduce price to $4

The authority could see up to $200K in additional revenue.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

Paid parking at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport will be expanded starting next month.

The Westmoreland County Airport Authority on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to more than double the size of the paid overnight parking lot in front of the main terminal building and cut the daily rate by more than half.

“We’re going to reduce the price and increase the size (of the paid parking lot),” said Gabe Monzo, the authority’s executive director.

The airport currently charges $10 to park overnight in a 300-space fenced lot. The authority will extend that lot to include another 400 currently free parking spots that sit directly behind the fenced lot.

Daily rates to park in the expanded lot will be $4.

Work will begin soon to extend the fencing of the enlarged paid lot, which is expected to open in early May.

Monzo suggested the cheaper rate will entice more passengers to pay to park closer to the terminal building. He estimated the authority could see up to $200,000 in additional revenue from the larger paid parking area. The authority last year received $60,000 in parking revenue.

The authority had been barred by Federal Aviation Administration restrictions from charging for parking on property still under the agency’s financial jurisdiction. That restriction recently expired for the property where the B lot is located, and those spots will be converted to paid parking.

The remaining 800 parking spots in three outer lots will remain free, Monzo said.

Expansion of paid parking comes as Arnold Palmer Regional Airport prepares to open its new passenger terminal in late June. Construction of the 32,000-square-foot expansion — which relocates airport security lines and passenger gates, adds leased commercial space and extends common areas — is nearing completion of its first phase, officials said.

Work on the project’s second and third phases to add a second passenger gate, relocate airport authority administrative offices and add new baggage areas will continue over the next two years.

Meanwhile, the airport has seen its passenger traffic increase by more than 23% during the first three months of the year, according to recently released statistics. The airport’s lone commercial carrier, Spirit Airlines, operated flights five times a week to Orlando, Fla., during the first quarter. That route will return in September.

Spirit will begin the airline’s seasonal service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Friday.