Spirit Was the Only Airline in Town. Now What?

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.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/travel/spirit-airlines-shutdown-palmer-airport.html