Shawn and Mary McMullen didn’t expect hoopla Wednesday morning when they arrived at the ticket counter of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to purchase airfare for an upcoming trip to Disney World.
“It is so convenient. This is the easiest place for use to fly out of,” Shawn McMullen said.
The McMullens, from Cambria County, said they chose to travel to Florida with their 9-year-old granddaughter from the Unity airport because of its location, free parking and service. It’s a comment the airport operators like to hear.
While the McMullens made their flight arrangements, a few feet away in the main concourse, county officials and community leaders were having a party to mark the return of additional flights and passengers to the airport.
Spirit Airlines, the airport’s lone carrier, which had reduced its flight schedule in the fall to just several weekly flights to Orlando, reinstated daily service there in February and marked the return of daily flights to Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Wednesday.
Twice-weekly flights to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a destination offered years ago from Westmoreland County, will restart Thursday.
“No one knew in January when people were calling to say the wheels were falling off the rails, that this would happen. This is the reason they are coming back,” said airport authority Executive Director Gabe Monzo, referencing the facility’s staff, including clerks hired by the authority to work for Spirit. “We felt the staff is the primary reason (flights) are coming back.”
At its peak in 2019, more than 309,000 passengers flew into and out of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. The covid pandemic and Spirit’s financial struggles saw those numbers bottom out in subsequent years. Just 145,000 passengers flew out of the airport last year, and the numbers continued to be depressed during the first three months of 2025.
Those flight reductions last year plunged the airport into red ink. It lost as much as $600,000 in 2024, and during the first few months of this year, monthly operational deficits of $15,000 forced full-time staffers to be switched to part-time status. Monzo said Spirit’s increased flight schedule means those employees will return to full-time work.
Passenger totals are expected to dramatically increase as summer approaches.
About 155 people were booked on Spirit’s Myrtle Beach flight Wednesday, and another 100 or more passengers are expected to fly to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Monzo said.
County commissioners praised what they said was the airport’s revitalization.
“I was one of the people calling him (Monzo), asking about the future of our airport, and he said to hang in there. This shows this airport is a major strength in the community,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.
Commissioners and business leaders celebrated the increased flight schedule with lunch for invited guests. Spirit swag and two $300 flight vouchers were awarded to two people in attendance.
“The only requirement, you have to fly out of Latrobe,” Monzo quipped.
Dan DeBone, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce, said the increased flight schedule will help the county grow.
“This really provides additional access for our members who come into the county and conduct businesses. This is really so important for our county,” DeBone said. He would like to see additional destinations, including flights to New York, added.
For now, Spirit plans no additional routes to operate from the Westmoreland airport, Monzo said. Spirit officials did not attend Wednesday’s event.
Monzo, meanwhile, is lobbying for more flights to Fort Lauderdale and other locations.
“We’re still contacting anyone who is willing to talk to us, and we’re hoping someone else will come here,” he said.