Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe, Pa., is partway through a renovation that will double its gates — from one to two.
But when Spirit Airlines shut down on May 2, the number of carriers operating there fell from one to zero.
Palmer Airport, about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, was the only airport in the United States served exclusively by Spirit, according to the aviation data firm Cirium. With Spirit’s demise, Latrobe, population 8,000, was left without commercial airline service for the first time since 2011.
“It’s absolutely a setback,” said Moe Haas, the executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which oversees the airport. Mr. Haas took over the agency on May 1, Spirit’s last full day in business.
“We have people ready to fly,” he said. “There was a need for them and there’s still a need.”
Spirit cycled through an array of routes from Latrobe since it began service there 15 years ago, at various points flying to cities including Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Las Vegas. In 2015, a record 356,000 passengers flew in and out of Latrobe on Spirit, according to the airport authority. But demand never recovered after the pandemic, and last year fewer than 120,000 passengers used the airport.
When Spirit shut down, its sole route from Latrobe went five times weekly to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Mr. Haas said he expected to lay off about 20 of the airport’s 56 employees as a result of the closure. The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement that its staff at Palmer Airport “will be reassigned to other airports” but declined to provide details.
Latrobe, situated in the gentle hills of western Pennsylvania, prides itself on being the birthplace of Fred Rogers, of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” and the golf legend Arnold Palmer. The region is home to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, about 35 miles south, and popular golf courses. The Flight 93 National Memorial, near Shanksville, Pa., is about 40 miles southeast.
Palmer Airport, with its free parking, is also a major point of pride for many residents.
A collage at the Latrobe Art Center, a gallery and cafe downtown, depicts the airport and a Spirit jet alongside city icons like Rolling Rock beer, which was first made by the Latrobe Brewing Company, and a banana split (supposedly invented in Latrobe in 1904, the dessert is honored with a festival each summer).
“People just love flying out of Latrobe,” said Briana Tomack, the chief executive of the Greater Latrobe Laurel Valley Chamber of Commerce. Many travelers chose to fly from there because it was often cheaper and less crowded than Pittsburgh International Airport, she said. That meant more business for Latrobe’s hotels, restaurants and shops.
“It was really good for us,” she said.
Local business owners said they would feel the loss.
“It hurts,” said Mark Boerio, 62, the owner of Army & Navy gun store and indoor pistol range. The Spirit flights, he added, “put us on the map a little bit more.”
Anthony M. DeNunzio II, 47, a manager at DeNunzio’s, an Italian restaurant at the airport, said the restaurant predated Spirit’s arrival and would outlast it, too. Losing the airline hurt business, Mr. DeNunzio said, but private and charter flights for golfing and casino trips continue to bring in diners, as do birthdays, funerals and other events.
Eric Bartels, Latrobe’s mayor, said in a text that he worried about “the inconvenience and added expenses” for residents who will now have to drive more than an hour to fly out of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Haas said he was in talks to bring other airlines to Latrobe, though he declined to identify them. Palmer Airport doesn’t qualify for the Essential Air Service, a federal program that subsidizes airline routes serving small communities, because it’s within 70 driving miles of Pittsburgh International Airport.
Spirit’s onetime success in Latrobe, along with the airport’s expansion, could help persuade another airline to enter the market, Mr. Haas added. The renovation includes two new gates to replace the current one, with an option for a third. It’s expected to be completed in phases beginning later this year.
Among those feeling Spirit’s loss most acutely are the students at Laurel Highlands Aeronautical Academy, a flight school at Palmer Airport.
“It was something motivating to look at and think, ‘Hopefully one day we’ll get there,’” said Jade Schuffert, 19, a first-year student.
Dominic Meckling, 16, said he got interested in becoming a pilot after flying on Spirit out of Latrobe when he was younger.
“If it wasn’t for that flight, I don’t know that I’d be sitting here today and flying,” he said.
The night Spirit shut down, he added, he and a friend were on a call “just talking and tracking the last planes land.”
Niraj Chokshi contributed reporting.
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Gabe Castro-Root is a travel reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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