25 workers laid off after Spirit Airlines exit

The Unity airport loses TSA services and cuts staff while awaiting a new carrier to utilize its nearly completed $22M terminal expansion.

By RENATTA SIGNORINI
TribLive

Last week, 25 workers at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport were laid off amid fallout of Spirit Airlines’ abrupt closure, said Moe Haas, director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority.

Two other employees have seen their hours cut, he said, and the Transportation Security Administration has given the Unity airport a 90-day notice that it was pulling out of the facility.

Meanwhile, work is wrapping up on the first phase of a $22 terminal expansion project, even though there is not currently a commercial carrier to use it.

“It’s here, it’s ready, we’ll be moving forward with it,” Haas said. “We’ll be ready to go when we get another airline to come in. It’ll be attractive.”

Spirit announced May 2 that operations would end immediately, leaving Arnold Palmer Regional Airport without a commercial airline. The move left passengers stranded, flights canceled and travelers scrambling to find alternate options. A proposed government bailout to help the cash-strapped business apparently failed.

Spirit sought Chapter 11 protection in November 2024 and again in August 2025.

Authority board members on Tuesday approved the solicitor seeking counsel to represent the authority in the bankruptcy proceedings.

“I don’t know that it’s a big project because there’s not much for us to gain, but we do need to have somebody oversee this,” said Vincent J. Finoli, board vice president.

Low-cost carrier Spirit came to Westmoreland County with great fanfare in 2011 at a time when no commercial operators used the airport. Passenger totals reached a high of nearly 356,000 in 2015, but had decreased over the years amid flight cuts to 119,379 in 2025, the fewest since 2011.

Negotiations have been ongoing for years in an effort to have another carrier serve the airport, though nothing has been announced. In light of Spirit pulling out, that work continues in earnest through the authority’s aviation consultant, Haas said.

“Once the dust settled down a little bit, he’s prodding the other proposed air carriers into coming in here about seeing what their intent are,” he said.

The airport authority provided much of the staffing for Spirit through annual subsidies from Westmoreland County. The county gives the airport nearly $2.6 million each year.

Donald J. Rossi, author- ity board member, said the airport owes a lot to Spirit, whose presence resulted in investments over the years to improve air travel.

“We were pure luck that Spirit called,” he said. “It’s going to be pure luck for somebody like Jet Blue to call.”

Another carrier coming into the airport will have to be an aviation business decision, he said. The size of Spirit’s fleet allowed the company to have extra airplanes for a place like Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, something smaller carriers might not have.

Rossi encouraged fellow board members to be patient.

“We’re all sorry that Spirit pulled out, but that’s a major loss — it’s going to take a major investment to go back,” he said.