Arnold Palmer Regional Airport has been quiet since May, and Breeze Airways is about to end the silence. The Westmoreland County Airport Authority announced Tuesday that Breeze will serve Latrobe with flights to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Orlando, Florida.
Spirit Airlines shut down in May, and the airport has had no commercial service since. Spirit had been its only carrier for 15 years. The lights are coming back on, but the wait isn’t quite over. For the full story of how the ultra-low-cost pioneer got here, see our look at Spirit’s collapse.
When Do the Breeze Airways Flights Start?
Patience required. According to Breeze’s website, as reported by the Latrobe Bulletin, Myrtle Beach flights begin Feb. 9. Orlando follows on May 26. So far, the website lists no other destinations.
The airport authority board voted unanimously Tuesday to ratify the contract. However, the airline hasn’t announced fares, flight frequency or aircraft type.
The Federal Money Behind the New Airline
Airlines don’t land at small airports out of sheer generosity. An $850,000 U.S. Department of Transportation grant backs the service. That money comes from the department’s Small Community Air Service Development program, announced in September. Because of the grant, the airport had to restore service on the old Spirit routes to Florida and Myrtle Beach.
Another report describes the grant as covering revenue guarantees for a new airline. In plain English, that is insurance for the carrier while it builds a customer base. Even so, officials haven’t disclosed the size of any guarantee Breeze receives.
Salisbury, Maryland, used the same grant program, with $800,000, to land Breeze nonstop service to Orlando.
It is a proven playbook.
What Breeze Flights Mean for Westmoreland County
Breeze founder and CEO David Neeleman said the company had been watching the market. “Latrobe has been a city we had been keeping an eye on, and we know the local community was in need of new travel options after losing all commercial service earlier this year,” he said.
County Commissioner Ted Kopas put it more simply: “Arnold Palmer Regional Airport is back in business.”
Here’s the thing for travelers. The airport handles about 150,000 passengers a year, and for many of them it was the easy alternative to the drive into Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Breeze already flies out of Pittsburgh International, where it recently added Vero Beach and will add Cancún and Punta Cana in January. Latrobe flyers now get a second door to the same airline. Airline consolidation could reshape that picture, as our report on the United and American merger rumors shows.
The Terminal Is Almost Ready Too
The timing works out. The airport’s $22 million terminal expansion has finished phase one, pending a final roof inspection for a warranty. The new terminal has two gates. One still needs seating and a passenger bridge, which airport engineer Raena Lindemuth said will likely go in during the first week of November.
Phase two moves the authority’s offices into the space where the old gates stood. It is about halfway done and should finish in January.
The airport hired aviation consultant Volaire in 2025 to help land a second airline. Instead, it got a replacement for the one it lost, and it has about four months before the first plane arrives. The big test comes after that: can Breeze fill seats once the ribbon-cutting glow fades?
