Construction delays cause turbulence for Palmer airport expansion project

Delays have left construction of a $22 million new terminal building at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport at least three months behind schedule, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Delivery of the domestic steel needed to erect the 32,000-square-foot expansion of the main terminal building was slated to arrive earlier this spring but now is not expected to be on site until July, causing construction to temporarily stall, according to Scott Kunselman, the engineer for the Westmoreland County Airport Authority.

When completed, the expanded terminal is expected to include a second passenger gate that will more than double the Unity airport’s capacity for passengers and provide new TSA checkpoints and other common area improvements.

Work crews have poured the foundation and installed electrical lines and plumbing as part of the project’s $12 million first phase to build a new passenger loading area adjacent to the existing terminal building.

“The weather didn’t help when we started building last fall, and now we’ve had some trouble getting materials that we’re still resolving,” Kunselman said.

Construction is expected to resume and accelerate after the steel is delivered with an estimated completion date sometime in March, he predicted. The first phase of the terminal expansion originally was slated to be finished in late December.

A second passenger gate is expected to be added next year after work begins on the phase two of the project to relocate the airport authority offices and install a new baggage conveyor system. That phase also will include refurbishment of one passenger bridge and construction of a second to link the terminal building to commercial planes.

The final phase of the project to expand the airport’s baggage pickup area and update restrooms and other common areas is expected to be completed in 2027.

Passenger traffic will not be impacted by the construction, airport authority Executive Director Gabe Monzo said.

“We have capacity now to do two flights an hour, and, once the new terminal is built, we will be able to have a dozen flights a day, easy,” Monzo said.

Spirit Airlines, the airport’s lone commercial carrier, operates daily flights to and from Orlando, Fla., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. It also offers two weekly flights to and from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Myrtle Beach and Fort Lauderdale flights started last week.

The increased flight schedule resulted in about 450 passengers traveling from the airport last Thursday on three outgoing flights, the most the facility has had since last fall. Traffic is expected to increase throughout the summer months, Monzo said.

Meanwhile, he said, the airport authority continues to lobby Spirit to operate additional routes out of Westmoreland County. So far, no additions to the flight schedule are imminent, Monzo said.