LATROBE, Pa. — Spirit is the only commercial airline that services Latrobe’s Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. Frontier announced a deal Monday to buy Spirit Airlines for $6.6 billion.
Sue Tain lives less than 20 minutes from the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe and hopped off her first Spirit flight in quite a while.
”I am totally wishing I had more often because it was such an easy flight, and so cheap,” Tain said.
She heard about the $6.6 billion dollar deal that will merge Spirit with Frontier, but said she isn’t sure how she feels about it yet.
”I do not know yet. I’m nervous they’re going to take away some of the luxuries we have right out of Latrobe and make it into a larger airline,” Tain said.
The convenience and cheap fares are what attracts people like Tain to Latrobe.
In just 11 years, Arnold Palmer Regional Airport went from 0 passengers to 300,000 in 2021.
”We’re just excited as can be. It’s a great opportunity for us,” airport executive director Gabe Monzo said.
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Monzo said they are welcoming the news and thinks overall it will improve the airport for consumers, and could lead to expansion opportunities at the airport.
”We’re willing to work with them and help them in anyway we can and we hope it expands our capabilities,” Monzo said.
In a joint statement, the airlines said the merger will add 1,000 daily flights to over 145 destinations.
It plans to expand with more than 350 aircraft to continue to offer ultra-low fares.
Monzo says they’ll do what they have to do to keep landing those flights in Latrobe.
”They know what we can do; we’ve proved ourselves time and time again, and we’re ready to move on,” Monzo said.
The airport said it expects the merger to be complete by the end of the year.
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