Latrobe’s Arnold Palmer Regional Airport offers new flights

Nonstop trips to Myrtle Beach, Orlando planned

After months without a commercial carrier, the Westmoreland County Airport Authority on Tuesday announced Breeze Airways will begin providing two nonstop flights next year from the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity Township, near Latrobe.

Breeze will start flying out of the airport's newly expanded terminal to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in February and to Orlando, Florida, in May, airport officials said. Both locations were previously served by Spirit Airlines, which went bankrupt and abruptly shut down in May.

The Myrtle Beach route will begin Feb. 9, with nonstop flights on Mondays and Fridays, starting at $49 one-way, according to Brian McCormick, Breeze Airways' director of airport properties.

The Orlando route will begin May 26, with nonstop flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting at $59 one-way, McCormick said during a press conference at the airport.

"It's fitting that the airport named for Arnold Palmer now flies nonstop to some fantastic golf destinations," McCormick said, adding that Breeze is "very proud of our record" as a low-cost carrier that offers more than 300 year-round and seasonal routes to 95 destinations in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean.

"I can tell you for the 95 destinations that we serve, in our five-and-a-half-year history, we've only had to exit five markets," McCormick said. "There's no one else in the domestic airline industry that can say that, so we're very proud that when we come to a new community, we're here for the long haul."

Since 2011, when Spirit began its service at the airport, more than 3.3 million people had moved through its terminal, according to Moe Haas, the airport authority's executive director.

Haas said the airport generated an economic impact of about $200 million, and losing air service was "a big blow" to both the region's economy and the traveling public who enjoyed the airport's convenience of travel.

Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew said he's excited to welcome Breeze Airways and people from throughout the region back to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.

"Today is a day that we get to see this airport open back up; a day whenever we can see the new terminal be used for flights once again here in Westmoreland County," Chew said, thanking the local, state and federal officials who supported the airport and allowed it to move forward.

In a tribute to Fred Rogers, one of Latrobe's other famous sons, McCormick said "it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" to announce that tickets for both routes are currently on sale.

Tickets can be purchased at www.flybreeze.com.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.