Westmoreland airport officials maintain hope after Spirit Airlines bankruptcy filing

Westmoreland County officials are hopeful a stronger Spirit Airlines will emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is able to reverse a cutback in the commercial carrier’s flights at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

With that in mind, the county airport authority is restoring reservation desk staffing it had curtailed at the Unity airport. But, with Spirit providing the sole commercial service there, the authority also is continuing efforts to attract another airline.

Meanwhile, officials say the authority is committed to moving forward with a $22 million expansion of the airport’s terminal.

“I think we knew this was coming for quite a while,” airport authority Executive Director Gabe Monzo said of Spirit’s announcement on Monday it filed for bankruptcy protection. “It was just a matter of time.”

The budget airline has lost more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020 and faces debt payments totaling more than $1 billion in 2025 and 2026.

While it has attempted to recover from the slump in air travel during the covid-19 pandemic, Spirit experienced a setback early this year, when a court ruling blocked its proposed purchase by JetBlue.

Spirit didn’t immediately respond on Monday to TribLive’s questions about its plans at the Unity airport, but Monzo noted the airline has said it intends to continue “business as usual” during the Chapter 11 process — including flights and ticket sales.

“Hopefully, they’ll get through this and emerge even better,” Monzo said of the airline’s Chapter 11 move.

Citing a restricted flight schedule, he said, the airport recently cut its reservation desk staffing from four to two people. Now, he said, four reservations workers again will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays, anticipating a hoped-for resurgence in flights this coming spring.

“We’re taking the initiative and making sure we have the reservation people to take care of it,” Monzo said.

He said Spirit has not released its flight schedule for February but typically adds trips from the airport to Myrtle Beach, S.C, sometime during the spring season.

“It’s been as far ahead as May and as early as the end of February,” he said of the added destination.

Sean Kertes, chairmen of the Westmoreland commissioners, echoed the hope that the airport will be in a stronger position once Spirit emerges from bankruptcy.

“It’s always a wait-and-see situation with the airlines,” Kertes said.

After Spirit began service at the airport in February 2011, annual passenger totals increased from about 64,000 to a peak of nearly 356,000 in 2015. The passenger numbers dropped back to about 123,500 in 2020, the initial year of the pandemic, and have fluctuated since then.

Last year, nearly 150,500 Spirit passengers passed through the terminal. Monzo expects the number to be similar this year, having reached about 128,000 by the end of October.

At one time, Spirit offered regular flights to several destinations in Florida, briefly adding a nonstop trip to Las Vegas. Orlando, Fla., has continued as the mainstay destination, although the number of flights have been curtailed to just one per day.

Reservation desk hours were trimmed from a previous 9 a.m.-t0-3 p.m. schedule.

The Westmoreland County Airport Authority continues to be interested in attracting other airlines to the Palmer airport, Monzo said, though no such deals have materialized over the years.

While declining to release any details, Monzo said low-cost commercial carriers the authority has been in touch with include JetBlue, Texas-based Avelo Airlines, Utah-based Breeze Airways and Southern Airways Express, which has its headquarters in Palm Beach, Fla., and specializes in commuter service.

“Talking to other airlines, that’s the backup plan,” said Monzo. “I’ll talk to any airline that’s willing to talk to us.”

In addition to Florida destinations, Spirit offers flights to New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles from Pittsburgh International Airport — which is a little over 60 miles away from the Palmer airport by car.

Because it is within such close proximity to the major Pittsburgh-area air traffic hub, the Palmer airport is not eligible for the federal Essential Air Service program. That program typically subsidizes between two and four daily round trips by a 19-seat aircraft to a major hub airport.

“I don’t think it’s a handicap,” Monzo said of the lack of EAS eligibility at the Unity site. “It’s a choice that the airlines have to make.

“We get 150,000 people who want to go somewhere. We just have to find the right niche for us.”

The first phase of the airport terminal upgrade — expansion of the building’s shell and its Transportation Security Administration screening space — started on Oct. 28. While demolishing a vacant hangar that was in the way, crews discovered an abandoned fuel tank that also will have to be removed.

The terminal project ultimately will expand the terminal’s baggage claim area, move hold rooms and airport authority offices, create a new concession space and passenger boarding bridge, refurbish the existing bridge and upgrade restroom facilities and the HVAC system.

The county has chipped in $4 toward the terminal project. That’s in addition to the county’s 2024 infusion of more than $2.6 million to help cover the authority’s annual operating costs for the Palmer airport and the smaller Rostraver Airport, along with the organization’s existing debt service.

So far this year, the authority has taken in about $5.3 million in revenue at the Palmer airport and has incurred expenses totaling about $4.9 million.

Monzo said the Spirit bankruptcy hasn’t altered plans to proceed with the terminal upgrades.

“This is a 25-year-old building,” he said. “We have to renovate it, no matter what.”

The expansion is designed to provide for two TSA screening lines, up from just one.

“That’s probably the most important, getting the screening under control,” he said, indicating TSA officials found the screening process lacking during the pandemic.