Breeze Airways bringing commercial flights back to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
Commercial flights will once again be taking off from the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, starting early next year.
The Westmoreland County Airport Authority announced Tuesday that Breeze Airways will serve passengers traveling to and from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Orlando, Florida, starting in February and in May, respectively.
For airport executive director Maurice "Moe" Haas, the announcement comes as a major relief.
His second day on the job last May was marked by the news that Spirit Airlines was shutting down its operations, leaving the airport without a commercial service.
"It's great. It's great," Haas said with a smile. "You know, you can finally go out without anybody having questions, 'Hey, when are we getting an airline?' 'Hey, when are we getting this?' It's been very hard and very trying. And we are finally in the place where we need to be."
Before the airline ceased operations, Spirit had been the sole carrier at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport for the last 15 years.
Breeze has signed a two-year deal with the airport, with an option to extend. And the airline will have the benefit of a newly completed terminal to move into as it starts flights to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Feb. 9, with fares as low as $49 one way, and then flights to Orlando, Florida, beginning on May 26, with rates as low as $59 one way.
The flight service returning to Arnold Palmer Regional is happening in part due to a federal grant of $850,000 that was given to the airport, which stipulated that service needed to be restored to old Spirit routes that flew from Latrobe to Florida and Myrtle Beach.
Brian McCormick, director of airport properties for Breeze, says that they have a great track record with smaller airports like this, and he says the sky's the limit for this new partnership with Arnold Palmer.
"In our first five years of operation, we are now at 95 airports, and we have only exited five markets in our whole history, and in fact, one of them, we returned to," McCormick said. "So it is a good bet to have Breeze in your community, and we plan to be here for the long term and we would like to grow and add more destinations."
Breeze Airways prides itself on being a high-value and low-cost non-stop service to underserved markets.
In addition to the new service scheduled to fly out of Arnold Palmer Regional, Breeze recently announced new, expanded nonstop service from Pittsburgh International Airport to Vero Beach, Florida; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and Cancún, Mexico.
The airline has over 60 aircraft, with 20 more coming online next year. They currently operate more than 300 routes to 95 cities in the U.S., Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
Their plans include brand-new A220-300 airbuses, with the capability of flying non-stop for 3,000 nautical miles. All Breeze planes are equipped with fast Wi-Fi and have preferred seating options from first-class to coach.
Flights to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, will operate Mondays and Fridays, and flights to Orlando, Florida, will operate Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Tickets are currently on sale for flights to Myrtle Beach in February and to Orlando in May. More information can be found on Breeze's website and app.
