Spirit Airlines is pulling the plug on its year-round flights from Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to Orlando, with the route scheduled to end April 15, 2026. That decision wipes out Latrobe’s most popular nonstop to Florida and will leave the airport with only seasonal service to Myrtle Beach later this spring. For Westmoreland County residents who have long favored the quick drive to Latrobe over the haul to Pittsburgh International, the convenience factor just took a hit.
According to TribLIVE, Spirit’s timetable shows the Orlando route ending April 15. Spirit spokesperson Thomas Fletcher told the outlet in an email that seasonal Myrtle Beach flights will become the carrier’s only service from the airport, and Spirit did not elaborate on why the Orlando route is getting cut.
WTAE reports that Spirit is currently the only commercial airline operating at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. The station notes that Spirit’s published schedule lists Myrtle Beach service from mid-April through early September, and that the carrier is expected to emerge from its second bankruptcy later this year.
Financial Strain And Local Risk
Small regional airports like Latrobe live and die by the fortunes of a single low-cost carrier, and Spirit’s ongoing restructuring has already reshaped flight options around the country. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last year that Spirit had been slowly rebuilding its network, including seasonal Myrtle Beach service and limited Fort Lauderdale flights, and airport officials at the time called those signs encouraging…